


Our Last First Kiss

by Wiccan507



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Curses, First kiss is their Last kiss, Hunters, M/M, Mentions of past deaths, Past Lives, Scott and Stiles are Brothers, Soul mate, Spark Stiles, Werewolves, Witches, hale fire still happened, magick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 16:41:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1311841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wiccan507/pseuds/Wiccan507
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hundreds of years ago Stiles and Derek were cursed to spend eternity losing each other. In every life they lived they would be drawn together but would only become aware of their entwined past after their first kiss. Once they kiss one of them would always die shortly after but this time something's different, this life Stiles remembers everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Curse

Stiles and Derek were what a normal person might call soul mates, destined to be together, to find each other in every life. That was true for them; they did find each other, each life they lived their paths would lead them back together, but the cost was always one of their lives. Their bond dated back to a time when magick was terrifying; to when the mention of the word witch would have you burned at the stake. But then magick was how this all started.

 Few men were ever burned for being witches but in one town they killed more men than anywhere else. It was the doing of a powerful witch, she slept with men long enough to frame them, to leave ingredients around their homes, markings of the devil carved into their bed, and when she had had enough of them, she would scream witch in the town. They endured trial after trial but always without fail they would be burnt to the shouts of the people they had once called friends. The only mistake she made was choosing a man who had just come into town. She was blinded by lust for him, for his dark hair, the unidentifiable colour of his eyes, the stubble that covered his sharp jaw, most women in town wanted him, but he was still a stranger. A man that was passing through, he had never seemed interested in anyone and yet something changed when he came to this town. In a town that he was only supposed to stay a day because he stayed for a week, then two, then a month and he seemed to settle. No one could really identify why he stayed, but many believed he was in love with someone within the town. It didn’t matter the witch had taken many relationships, watched as they cracked down the middle when she accused the men of enchanting her, she would still have this man, but she had to know what she was dealing with, had to find the weak spots in their relationship. 

She followed him for days almost giving up and thinking it a waste of time when finally, finally the man travelled off into the woods. She hid from him and watched as he walked deep into the depths, watched as he sat against a tree and talked. Confusion clouded her mind at first but then she heard it; another voice came from the other side of the tree, and the man smiled. It stretched across his face, as the man spoke to him; his eyes seemed to fill with a light she had not seen before. She watched as the other man came around the tree and sat on his lap. His knees pushed into the dirt under them, and the dark haired man’s hands settled on his hips, and they talked. She watched the small movements between them, the way they followed each other’s bodies, in sync in a way she had not witnessed in the others. She knew this would be her greatest achievement; to destroy a love like this would make her stronger than she had ever been. 

She was fascinated with them after that. They never met at the same time of the month but it was always the same place, as far as she could tell they only met twice a month and that was it. One night she had followed them, and they had stared up at the moon, the young man had his head on the others chest. They didn’t speak or move for hours, and she watched as they shared a single kiss. Hesitant at first as though neither man could believe this was something they could have, but then it quickly became something more desperate, something that translated as our first kiss will be our last. With their foreheads pressed together they breathed each other in then, they moved back to their original position and slept. 

She had bidden her time before she made a move on the man, believed that she could become nothing more than a distraction but then even that seemed too hopeful. He became more withdrawn, the longer he spent there, the less he talked, the women continued to push their breasts towards him in the hopes he would notice, but he would not even look. She tried a different approach a friendlier approach, but nothing worked. So instead she would have to change her plan. Their bond was strong enough that she could feed off the power as he burned and if they burned together then all the better.

Her time came during the town festival. The neighbouring towns joined the festivities, and there he was the brown haired boy was dancing into town with his friend. She doubted others noticed but even now she could tell the behaviours he displayed that showed he knew who was there, knew the man he loved was watching. His eyes flicked around the crowds searching until he found him and she watched as his hands became fists forcing himself not to run to him. She only needed for them to give in to temptation, to risk their heads to see each other, no reason she couldn’t help it along. Making her way towards him, she could almost feel the burning gaze on the back of her head. Introducing herself allowed her to draw her hand down his arm, to touch him in public like they both so desired. The final straw might have been the kiss she pressed to his cheek. She moved away just as quickly as she had arrived but he was already in her place when she gazed over her shoulder. 

Darkness soon wrapped around the village but it never stopped the people from partying, them throwing wood onto the bonfire in the middle of town. Following the brown haired one, she watched as he ducked behind the houses and walked till he was at the edge of town, just near the farmlands. He looked around before entering one of the barns, peeking through the door she could see them, pressed against the side of the building. Their bodies aligned perfectly and their breaths mingled as they spoke in whispers. Making her way back to the town she started to move faster till she was running, running to the middle of town screaming as tears fell down her cheeks. She revealed of the couple she had witnessed; she had overheard them planning a ritual. The town’s people flooded towards the barn. Except it was empty, they shouted at her, called her a liar! When she noticed them standing at the back of the crowd, she screamed and pointed at them. The people did not attack them; they attacked her, called her worthless and screamed at her for trying to blame a prince. They dragged her through town, locked her away. 

The king arrived the next day. Judged her for calling his son a witch, his son was to rule, and he would not be stupid enough to practice magick. She laughed in his face and told him that her son might not play with magick, but he slept with a man, a man that his son met with in secret. If she were to die, then she would destroy those that were at fault. She wasn’t given a trial, simply tied to a stake in the middle of town. They both attended, both ready to watch her burn to protect their own lives. They lit the wood surrounding her, and she laughed. She performed her last curse, the most powerful one she had ever created. Cursed them both to an eternity of misery, that with each reincarnation they find each other, and that each first kiss will be their last of that life. That for their spirits to return to each other they must not die by their own hand, and that they shall not be reborn till both of their lives have ended. Her laughs turned to screams as the fire engulfed her but she knew their pain would be all the revenge she needed.

Stiles hadn’t known his father was suspicious of who he was seeing if he had he might not have gone to Derek in the woods that morning. He might have stayed in the castle, hidden away in his room and pretended Derek didn’t exist. But he didn’t know; he didn’t know until one of his father’s guards was ripping Derek out of his arms. Till Stiles was thrown to the ground in front of his father. His father spoke of bringing shame to their family name, Stiles destroying any chance of him ever becoming king, but mostly he spoke of Stiles not being his son anymore and his punishment.

“Bring him.”

“What are you doing?”

“You betrayed me, and now you will face your punishment.” Stiles watched as the guards dragged a man to the feet of the king. 

“Restrain him.” A guard grabbed Stiles’s arms and forced him to his knees. Stiles tried to pull away from him, but the guard pulled his arms painfully behind his back. The king stood from his throne. He fisted his hand in the man’s hair and dragged him towards Stiles. 

“Derek!” 

“You must pay the price.”

“Then my life. Take my life not his.” The king dragged Derek to his knees, pulling his head back to expose his throat. 

“Then how would you learn.” The king pulled a long silver dagger from his belt and angled it across Derek’s throat. Stiles struggled against the guard, but the hold was strong. 

“Please stop this. He played no part in my betrayal.”

“He has made a mockery of our name. For which, you both shall pay.” Stiles screams echoed around the castle as the king drew his blade across Derek’s throat.  The King released his hold on his hair; Derek’s body fell to the floor. Stiles forced himself free from the guard's grip and covered Derek’s body. His blood smeared across Stiles’s hands and cheek. 

“How could you do this?” Stiles' voice was muffled as he pressed his face into Derek’s chest. He gripped his hands into his shirt and sobbed. The king waved his hand to the guards, and they pulled Stiles away from Derek.

“No! I won’t leave him!”

“You shall join him soon. Keep him in the dungeon. No food or water.”

“You can’t do this!” His father left him in the dungeon, as instructed he was never given any food or water. He curled in a corner, Derek’s blood on his hands and cried till he had nothing left. The guards collected his lifeless body after four days, and it was thrown into a hole with the body of the man he loved.  They were buried together in an unmarked grave behind the castle, where the king would spend his darkest days pretending his son had been the man he wanted. 

 

            Just as the witch had said, they were both reincarnated when Stiles died. Their lives always the same as they grew up ignorant to their pasts. They would always meet as though it was the first time but for that life, it was until they kissed, then their memories would be restored. Each life they would only have one kiss, they had figured it out eventually, in the rare days they had together before one of them inevitably died. It was always different things a mugging gone wrong, a car accident, drowning, a heart attack. Every life was something else, and they never knew which of them would die first. Sometimes the other would join them in days but other times they would spend years alone, years knowing they’d have to wait to die before seeing each other again. That was their fate for hundreds of years until something changed. There was something different about this reincarnation because this time, Stiles remembered. He remembered everything about Derek, knew exactly what would happen when he and Derek kissed. So Stiles prepared himself, lived his life knowing that one day Derek would come into his life, and Stiles would pretend to hate him, pretend that being near him repulsed him because Derek didn’t deserve this. He deserved to live his happy ever after and Stiles knew with every part of him that if Derek remembered and he didn’t, that Derek would do the same. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Background and Stiles dealing with knowing about his past lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Panic Attacks

Knowing about his previous lives made this one the strangest. He’d spent a long time as a child telling his parents stories, tales of him as a prince, as a servant, working on a ship, stealing from people wealthier than him and they smiled and commented on his imagination. And for a long time that’s what it was, his active imagination but then as he got older he knew it wasn’t just his imagination. Once he realised what it all really was, he stopped telling his family and instead thought of them when he was alone, until one day his mother handed him a book. It was bound in bright green leather and had a metal tree fixed to the front. She’d told him she’d seen it, and it had reminded her of his stories as a child, so he started writing them all down, he wrote down his different names, how he usually looked the same but sometimes his hair colour would be different, or his eyes and it never looked right. When his mom was in the hospital he would sit and read the stories to her; sometimes she’d ask him why he never had someone with him, someone that loved him to go on these adventures. It threw him the first time, but after he just smiled and told her that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt, Claudia always thought he was so selfless with that answer. He wasn’t really because he did write about someone else, he wrote all about Derek and the love they had, he just didn’t mention him because it hurt too much. 

            The first panic attack Stiles ever had came two weeks after his mom died. One night it had all been too much for him. His dad was drunk and passed out on the couch, and he had to be up early for his mother’s funeral, and it felt like the world was pressing down on his chest. This life had been nice, the others he’d always lost his family or had none at all, but this one had been perfect, and now it wasn’t because he was cursed. It was his fault, and he had brought this on them because he fell in love with the wrong person and he’d ruined so many lives. Lives he’d never had time to think about before, time to care about, but now here he was ten years old, and he remembered everything he’d ever done, and it was his fault his mom was dead. And it was so hard to breathe, so painful to force himself to try and calm down but he couldn’t because he’d always know this was his fault and he was supposed to be ten years old. He was only meant to remember parts of this life, but he could remember every crushing detail of his others, and it was just too much; too much for him to think about, too much for him to know.  He needed more air; he needed space to breathe. So he did what he could and ran because he needed to be as far away from his house as possible. He ran until his legs burned and his chest heaved with every breath. It helped to be this far away, made him feel like he was leaving all the pain in his home like he could be outside and pretend he wasn’t the same person who had caused so much misery. He’s not sure how he ended up sitting in the park, but there he was staring up at the fountain trying to pretend he was Eugeniusz Stilinski and not Stiles.

“Are you okay?” Stiles jerked away from the voice. He looked at the young boy standing at the end of the bench, his hair falling over his eyes and his eyes shining with tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. I was just thinking.”

“I get like that sometimes, when my mom and dad fight.”

“I’m Eug…Stiles. You can call me Stiles.”

“Scott. Scott McCall. I live just over there, and I saw you, and I’m not actually supposed to leave my house after 10, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I am.”

“You don’t look okay.”

“I have to bury my mom tomorrow.” The boy sat beside him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and Stiles knows he should push him away, but he just felt so alone that he let himself be hugged. 

“Where’s your dad?”

“He was asleep so I left because I don’t want him to get hurt because of me as well.”

“But won’t you leaving hurt him?”

“Yeah, but he’ll be alive.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll leave, and I’ll be fine.”

“Stiles, I don’t know anything about you but I think that if your dad loses your mom and you at the same time, I don’t think he’ll be fine, and I don’t think you will either.”

“I just don’t want him to get hurt like everyone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“No, I won’t. At my last school, I was voted the nicest and most responsible student in the year. I’ll believe whatever you say.”

“Even if I’m an alien?”

“Especially if you’re an alien.”

“I’m not really ten years old.”

“You’re not! But you look so young!”

“No, I mean I am 10 but I mean I can also remember all of my past lives because I was cursed by a witch.”

“Oh man, why did she curse you?”

“Because I let her be burned at the stake.”

“Yeah, but like good witches wouldn’t curse people so she was obviously a bad witch.”

“But the thing is I know how bad of a person I’ve been in every life and I know every horrible thing I did.”

“Did you mean to do it?”

“No! I would never purposefully hurt someone!”

“Then I don’t think you’re a bad person; you just made bad decisions. Look, I have to go because my mom will check on me soon, but if you’re at school, Monday come find me because we can be best friends.”

“I’ve never had a best friend.”

“Never!”

“Never.”

“Then we gotta change that. So, even if you do leave always remember that Scott McCall is your best friend.”

“Thanks, Scott.”

“Bye, Stiles.” Stiles watched as Scott ran back towards his house and couldn’t help but chuckle when the boy tripped on his pyjama pants and then turned to see if he’d noticed. Stiles thought about what Scott had said, a best friend, in all his lives he couldn’t remember having someone he’d call a best friend. Maybe he was right, perhaps by leaving his dad would be worse off. Stiles chewed on his lip as he thought everything over and then pushed off the bench and steeled himself for the walk back to his house. 

            It was easier after that, well not easier but bearable. Stiles wasn’t sure if Scott believed him but he acted as he did, he would listen to all the things Stiles had written down, and it was like having his mom back. Scott would stay round his house and ask Stiles different questions about his other lives, and he never judged him it was just plain old curiosity. For a while, everything was better and then came the worst weekend of Stiles life. Scott had slept over because his dad had been super busy all week. Stiles didn’t know much about it, just that on Monday his dad had gotten a call about a fire and then he’d rushed out leaving Stiles to himself. Now his dad was in the dining-room going over files because apparently, he suspected arson and Stiles and Scott had been exiled to his bedroom. 

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know my dad said the house in the woods was set on fire.”

“The Hale House?”

“I think so.”

“Dude that was Cora Hale’s house.”

“Who?”

“She was in our year; she kept to herself. Did anyone get out?”

“I don’t know. From what I’ve heard eight people died.”

“Oh man, that’s awful. Do you think we could ask your dad about Cora?”

“He doesn’t like to talk about it. I’ve asked him loads, but he won’t tell me anything.”

“Damn.”

“But we could always sneak down and take a look when he goes to sleep.”

“Won’t he be mad?”

“Yeah but like only if he found out.”

“Okay, we’ll wait and then go check it out.” And that’s what they did; they forced themselves to stay awake till Stiles dad dragged himself up the stairs and to bed. It wasn’t difficult to sneak downstairs; Stiles had done it so many times before. Scott turned the desk light on, and they looked over the files on the desk, memorising where everything went so his dad wouldn’t know. They sat and pulled out pieces of paper going over everything.

“Apparently, there were three survivors.”

“Where are they now?”

“Erm…Peter Hale is in intensive care at the hospital and Laura and Derek Hale have disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Yeah. Your dad got their statements, but then they just left town. Apparently, they were last seen driving away from the police station in their older brother’s Camaro.”

“Wait, are they suspects?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?”

“Well, Laura was two towns over when they called to inform her but Derek was there. He was screaming how sorry he was when they got there or something.”

“What? Let me see that.” Scott pushed the file towards him, and Stiles flipped it open to look over the pages. Derek Hale had been found outside of his home, screaming for his family, shouting how sorry he was for everything. It had been ruled an accident but his dad was still suspicious about a few things, and Derek was at the top of his list. There was a picture edging out under the sheets and Stiles pulled it free of the clip. There was a boy of maybe 17, eyes closed, his face stained with ash as he clung to a woman but Stiles heart still stopped because he’d seen that face so many times, in so many lives but never like this. He’d never seen him look so broken and alone; Derek had always been strong had always been intimidating, but here he looked small and vulnerable. He didn’t even realise how fast his breathing had gotten till Scott grabbed him and forced him to look at him. 

“Stiles what’s wrong?”

“It’s him. Oh god, Scott.”

“Him who?”

“Derek…my Derek.”

“Okay. Stiles, I want you to focus on me. On my voice, breathe with every number. 1…2…3…”  Stiles followed every breath with Scott until he’d calmed down and Scott hugged him; the picture crumpled in his hands as he puffed out heavy breaths on Scott’s shoulder. He’s not sure how but somehow Scott got them both back upstairs and laid on his bed. Scott talked about different things, told Stiles all about his dad and how one day he was just gone, said how he was failing gym, but he had a legitimate medical excuse so it wasn’t his fault. At some point, he started asking questions, easy things about Derek to try and release the tension in his body.

“Brown. In every life, it was always brown.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. After the fifth time of asking him, I just stopped. Didn’t need to waste time on a question I knew the answer to.”

“What was your best life?”

“This one because I know everything so I can change it. Change us.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we still have a million more lives together.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No. We meet in every life, and we suffer that’s it.”

“But isn’t it possible for you to die before you meet?”

“Honestly, no. I once got taken to the hospital because I fell off a roof, it was my job, and I met him there. He was my doctor, and I was fine, then we fell in love, and he kissed me the day I was being discharged.”

“What happened?”

“I stayed with him. The curse is kind of unpredictable, we could die in minutes, or it could be weeks. This time, I stayed with him because I fell off a roof and I broke my leg, and I was obviously going to die, and I didn’t want to leave him again. So I stayed, and we went to his apartment after his shift, and we were just together.”

“How long did you have with him?”

“About 12 hours in total. It was till we both fell asleep and then I woke up and he didn’t.”

“Wait, Derek died?”

“Yeah. That’s what I mean about it being unpredictable; it doesn’t matter what we do were pushed together and then when we meet were pulled together.”

“That’s so intense, man.”

“Yeah, well I’m like a hundred lives trapped in an eleven-year-old.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“I’m not.”

“But you said you hated the curse.”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have met you if this hadn’t happened and you’re like my brother Scott. I’ve never known anyone like you.”

“Cause I’m awesome. Oh, my god, you should totally turn your lives into a book! That would be so cool, like maybe show people that soul mates aren’t always as perfect as you think. We’ll use Stiles McCall as your pen name.”

“I think a pen name is supposed to prevent you from being identified.”

“Yeah and your name is Stiles Stilinski. No one would ever know.”

“That’s a great idea, Scott. I’ll think about it.”

“And you know if you wanted you could change it to be about Scott, the dashing young man, with great hair, a great body in every life, perfect health, a real charmer. You know to distance yourself further.” Stiles pulled his pillow from under him and hit Scott as hard as he could in the stomach, but the boy just laughed as Stiles hit him. Then he retaliated, and they hit each other until they were completely out of breath and falling down beside each other on the bed, chests heaving with exertion. Scott kept coughing so Stiles grabbed his spare inhaler from the drawer. 

“Thanks…man.”

“Thanks, Scott. I mean it you’re my best friend.”

“Always will be dude.”

 

            Stiles never forgot about Derek; it was impossible to forget about him but for years he tried because he just had to. He wrote what he remembered down, and the picture of a 17-year-old Derek was taped to the inside cover of his notebook but for the most part, he stopped reading it as much. The idea that Derek would come back soon was ridiculous; Stiles couldn’t even imagine why he would return to a town where his family died. So, Stiles just put his thoughts of Derek under a loose floorboard in his wardrobe and left him there. He assumed that he’d see Derek once he was in college or maybe when he got a job. Of course not even knowing about all of his past lives could have prepared Stiles for the consequences of this decision. But how often is there half a body found in the woods…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the panic attacks, I only have the experience of my own.


	3. Chapter 3

Meeting Derek again came in the strangest way possible. It involved a search for half a body, Scott being attacked by a huge dog and a missing inhaler. Stiles and Scott had gone into the woods the next day, and there he’d been, everything like Stiles remembered and yet nothing like the man he knew. He was older than Stiles, and that was something new because they’d always been born within a year of each other. Stiles was too busy staring at him, taking in the man he loved to even register what he was saying. His skin was paler than he was used to, stubble barely there, but the biggest change was the look in his eyes, Stiles had only ever seen this look a few times in the past, but it had never been like this; not this guarded and never this guilty. Stiles ached to reach out to him, to draw him into his arm, to kiss him again but he couldn’t because then one of them would die and this would start all over again. Even if this plan failed and the curse didn’t break they’d only miss out on one life together, and they could try something different. 

“Sorry?”

“This is private property. You need to leave.”

“Yeah, we’ll leave soon.” Derek threw an inhaler at Scott and then turned and left. Stiles stared at his back and then looked at Scott. 

“Dude, that was Derek Hale. You know the whole family died in a fire Derek Hale.”

“I _know_ who he is. Come on let's go.” Scott grabbed Stiles arm and pulled him back out of the preserve and towards the jeep. Scott was prepared for this day; Stiles had always told him that eventually Derek would show up like always and on that day Scott would have to remind Stiles to hate the man. 

            Stiles had been suspiciously quiet the whole way home. He hadn’t said a word since they’d left the preserve and now they were sat in his room, and he was just staring at his bed like it could answer all of his questions. 

“He’s not what I imagined; kind of looks like a serial killer.” 

“He might be.”

“What?” Stiles walked over to his desk and pulled out the green leather book and handed it to him.

“Page 34.”

“You numbered it. Efficient.”

“Just read it.” Scott flicked through the pages, catching glimpses of stories he’d heard a million times and others he didn’t recognise at all. He knew what they were; they were the ones that Stiles hated, the ones where he blamed himself for something, mostly it was people who got hurt because of their love. He found the page and read it out loud. 

“1932. I was Detective Henry Royal, and he was a serial killer. I’d been put on his case, except he didn’t want us going after him so he kidnapped me to send a message. He didn’t kill me, didn’t even hurt me, but he said he needed revenge on the people that had hurt him. One night he let me go, just told me that I was free of him, but I didn’t want to be so I stayed. It was slow after that; neither of us knew what we were doing. When we finally kissed everything came back to us, we didn’t kiss again, we couldn’t risk it, but we laid together for the night. After that we were on the run, it was three weeks after our first kiss that I was killed. The police finally caught up with us, and I was shot in the crossfire. In our next life, Derek told me that he was in prison for a year before he was killed.”

“And there was also the time that I murdered my girlfriend.”

“Dude.”

“I understand if you want to leave and never talk to me again, I’m a horrible person Scott. I have done so much and what kind of person falls in love with a serial killer! An insane person!”

“Stiles this isn’t you.”

“Yes, it is! These are my past lives; this is me.”

“Dude, your name was Henry Royal. Up until that kiss you were Henry Royal. He fell in love with a serial killer; you were already in love with Derek. Stiles did not love a killer, Henry did. None of these are you.”

“No Scott they are me. This is everything that I’ve ever done.”

“No, you know what. This life is you. You remember all of your past lives; you know how all of this started, and you are Stiles. The one who was supposed to be King and rule or whatever, you’re that guy, and that guy is pretty fucking great. You can’t blame yourself for things you never did; these were different people. Yes, they looked like you, and they were all drawn to whoever Derek was but all the shit they did, it was before you kissed and before you were you again.” 

“You can’t just make all that guilt disappear. I started all of this. The curse was my fault. If I hadn’t been the prince then, the town would have listened to her, and I would have burned instead of her.”

“And if I hadn’t been born then maybe my parents would still be together. Maybe my mom wouldn’t have had to work so much if my dad hadn’t left. Maybe my dad would have stayed if I was a better son. Oh wait, my dad will always and has always been an asshole. I wasn’t a reason for him to leave I was an excuse. That woman tried to have you burned at the stake Stiles; if it didn’t work with you, she would have done it to someone else.”

“But…”

“No. You’re my best friend, and I won’t let you think that any of this was your fault. You’re the best person I know not counting my mom.” Stiles dropped down onto the bed, and Scott left the book on the desk before sitting beside him. Scott threw an arm over his shoulder and pulled Stiles towards him. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Dude, don’t worry about it.”

“Why?”

“You just saw your soul mate, and you have to pretend like you hate him. I don’t totally get it, but I know it must be stressful for you.”

“Thanks, Scott. Dude, I totally forgot but how’s the bite?”

“I swear I must have imagined it because I woke up this morning and it was gone.”

“But you said it was huge and bleeding.”

“Yeah I know but this morning there was literally nothing there.”

“That’s kind of freaky.”

“I know. Listen I’m really sorry, but I have to go to work. You going to be okay?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine. I’ve got homework to do anyway.”

“You can always come with me.”

“Clean out litter trays all night or do homework. I think I’ll do homework.”

“Your loss man and don’t forget tomorrow we got lacrosse try-outs.”

“I was hoping you would forget.”

“Stiles come on, this will make us popular!”

“Sure it will Scott.” Scott beamed at him as he walked out the door and Stiles gave him a quick wave goodbye. Once Stiles heard Scott’s mom’s car drive away, he got up and grabbed the book from his desk. He laid down on his bed and read one of the stories till he fell asleep. 

_ 1981\. We met at an engagement party. Derek’s engagement party, my wife, was a bridesmaid, but this was the first time I’d be meeting the groom. His wife insisted we get to know each other better because Derek didn’t have many friends. I didn’t see any reason why not so I invited Derek to play golf. We didn’t really do any golf; it was just a way to get away from our wives. We were friends quite soon after, it was always easier to be with each other than our wives. It all just seemed to progress from there. Until one night the whisky had been thrown back easily, and we just didn’t care about our reputations or the consequences. We got a room at the nearest hotel and once in it just stared at each other from across the room. We both moved at the same time, and the kiss had been harsh and brutal but calmed as the memories flooded our minds. We kissed until our lungs burned. Over the next few weeks, we spent as much time together as possible but then word came of Derek’s death. He drowned. I lived without him for 13 years. _

            At school, Stiles figured he would be able to pretend like the past weekend hadn’t happened. They could just move on and forget that they ever went searching for half a body except Stiles life had never been an easy one so of course there was something wrong with his best friend. 

“Dude, what is going on with you? You’ve been weird all day.”

“I think the bite did something to me.”

“The bite?”

“Yeah.”

“The one you said you imagined?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. So what did it do?”

“It’s just ever since I got bit I’ve been feeling off and I keep getting these painful headaches.”

“Maybe you got rabies. Ask Deaton.”

“I’m not going to ask my boss if I have rabies. Besides it’s not like that, it’s more like everything is amplified.” 

“Wait, you mean you’re hearing gets better?”

“Sort of. I mean it just gets louder, but I feel like I can hear everything all at once.”

“Dude, come by my place later I think I have an idea of what’s going on.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I think I know what bit you. My place after school.” Scott shouted something to him, but Stiles was too busy thinking about werewolves to listen. He was out of the school and in his jeep so fast that he completely missed Derek on the other side of the parking lot. 

            Stiles hadn’t known about werewolves till he met Charles Argent in France. He’d met Charles in a bar, and the man had gone on and on about being a hunter and how werewolves could be anyone. Of course, Stiles had just thought the man was drunk, but he listened anyway because imagination or not the man was entertaining. However, that was only till the bartender jumped over the counter and attacked Charles. Turned out he was an omega werewolf with a string of deaths behind him. Charles had taken him down swiftly, and Stiles sat frozen in his bar stool with a broken glass in his hand. He was pulled out of the bar and pushed into an alley behind it. He thought he was about to be killed, but Charles just slung his arm around his shoulder and pulled him along.

“Kid, tonight you witnessed a hunter killing a werewolf. It’s a good idea if you don’t tell anyone about this. Believe me, they will think you’re crazy.”

“How did you know?”

“I’ve been training to be a hunter my entire life, could tell one a mile of. Here’s my card, you ever meet a werewolf come find me.”

“I doubt I’m ever going to meet a werewolf.”

“You just did.” With that, Charles had winked at him and walked back between the buildings leaving Stiles beside a road. Surprising to Stiles, in that life that wasn’t his only encounter with a werewolf. A few years down the line, after he met Derek and they had run away together, Stiles had been bitten by a rogue alpha, he hadn’t survived the bite, but he remembers what it was like. There had been a lot of pain as the bite on his side healed, but his body rejected it, but the one thing Stiles remembers is the way his senses had tried to adjust. The world had sounded louder, but he could hear more, his eyesight became sharper, and everything was a little clearer. That may have been in 1764, but Stiles doubted it would be any different now. 

            Stiles had spent the rest of his day researching on Google. He knew what he was looking for so it didn’t take him long to find everything on werewolves. Scott showed up just after six and dropped himself on Stiles bed. Stiles beamed at him and waved around the stack of research he’d printed off.

“Why’s your hair wet?”

“Because I showered in the locker rooms.”

“What. Why…Oh my god lacrosse. Dude, I am so sorry!”

“Stiles it’s okay. I told the coach you were sick so you went home early.”

“What did he say?”

“Meet him on the field tomorrow after school.”

“I love you. Thank you so much man, my dad would kill me if I missed this.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know how you get when you’ve figured something out.”

 

“Great because I think you’re becoming a werewolf.”


	4. Chapter 4

Scott’s reaction could have gone better, although anything would have been better than Stiles having to throw a book at him. Scott had stared at him for a solid ten minutes before standing up and shouting about believing him about everything, but he could not be serious with this. Apparently, witches curses he could handle but add in werewolves and Stiles had lost it. That’s when he had thrown the book, which had hit Scott right in the forehead. 

“Are you done?”

“Did you just throw a book at me?”

“Yep.” 

“Why?”

“Because I was trying to point something out to you.”

“Which is?” 

“When you were playing lacrosse earlier, did you have to use your inhaler?”

“Erm…no.”

“So, you don’t think it’s weird that your asthma is cured.”

“There is no way I’m a werewolf Stiles.”

“Look the last werewolf I met may have been a long time ago but I know what happens okay.”

“This is one of those stories you never told me, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a great memory.”

“You know speaking of memories, have you thought about what you’re going to do about Derek?”

“I’ve told you before. I’m going to pretend to hate him.”

“I know, but I thought you might change your mind.”

“Scott I know your big on love and everything, but I can’t do this to him.”

“Stiles–”

“No Scott! He’s lost more in this life than he ever has, I will not do this to him.”

“Don’t you think he deserves to know?”

“If this doesn’t break the curse it won’t matter.”

“Fine. So…how do we test whether I’m turning into a werewolf or not?”

“Well…I thought…we could erm…”

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Not exactly, no.”

“What can werewolves do?”

“From my research, they have enhanced senses, super strength and super healing.”

“Okay, let’s list everything and start from the top.”

“Alright.” They started with sight. Stiles grabbed a sheet of paper and drew his name on the paper, and then they went outside. Scott stood at one end of the road, and Stiles kept walking backwards until Scott couldn’t read what it said anymore. Except after about a 100 yards Stiles was at the end of the street and Scott could still read the sign. 

“I think we can tick that one of. Next up is taste.”

            Scott did not have super taste. He might be slightly sensitive to chilli flakes if the coughing fit was anything to go by but other than that everything tasted the same. He also didn’t have super touch, neither of them really know how that would have gone down but for the official record, Scott doesn’t have it. He does have super smell though and although he’ll deny it he can sniff out Stiles socks anywhere in the house. His super hearing is also particularly good, and he can hear Stiles perfectly from 100 yards away, so they suspect it could be further.

He most definitely has super strength, as discovered when he moved Stiles jeep with one hand. Now they just had to test super healing.

“You want to what?”

“Punch you in the face.”

“How will that help?”

“If I break your nose it will heal quickly.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you don’t have super healing.”

“Do it quick.” Stiles nodded then quickly pulled back his arm and punched Scott in the face. Stiles had been expecting the shouting and the swearing; he just hadn’t been expecting them to come from himself.

“What the ever loving fuck is your face made of?!”

“Dude either you’re really weak, or I’m really strong because that felt like a butterfly hit me.”

“You are really strong! We already covered that! I think my hand is broken.”

“Want me to take you to the hospital?”

“Nope. I want to hit you with a lacrosse stick.”

“Funny.” Stiles stared at Scott until the smile slipped off his face. “Oh god. You can’t be serious?”

“We need to see how much you can take, man.”

“I hate my life.”

            An hour later and Stiles had sufficiently beaten the crap out of Scott with various items around his house. They would probably still be going, but Stiles had started suggesting ‘nudging’ him with his jeep and just no. They were in Stiles bedroom, and Stiles was going over everything he had learned, Scott was sat behind him on the bed with a towel pressed to his head.

“Has the bleeding stopped yet?” Scott pulled the towel away from his head and pressed his hand to where the cut had been. The pain that had been there before was gone, and the bleeding had stopped.

“What the hell am I going to do now?”

“Become a superhero?” Scott glared at him. “Okay. Maybe not a superhero.”

“Dude, we need someone with experience.”

“For what?”

“To help me. Stiles, it’s all good to use the computer and what not but it’s not enough. I can’t control it; my hearing keeps coming in at the weirdest times. I need a real werewolf to help me.”

“You know we could try and find the werewolf that turned you.”

“How do we do that?”

“We’d need a hunter.”

“Stiles we aren’t looking for a bear we’re looking for a giant man-wolf thing.”

“No, you idiot a werewolf hunter.”

“They exist?”

 “I’m hoping they still do.”

“So where do we start?” 

“Charles Argent.”

“Who?”

“He was the hunter that saved me in France. If it was a family thing then maybe they’re still around.”

“Okay, but how do we find them?”

“I am going to type in Argent and hope for the best.”

“Okay then.” Stiles spun around in his office chair and brought up Google. He needed this to work; Scott was right; he had no idea what to do with a werewolf. Hopefully, there were still hunters out there; he just hoped they wouldn’t kill his best friend for being a werewolf.

“Okay, the first couple of searches take me to a weapons specialist.”

“Well, that could be them.”

“There’s a phone number for Chris Argent.”

“Call it.”

“What like right now?”

“Yeah dude, right now.” Stiles grabbed his phone and dialled the number listed. It rang four times before a female voice came over the phone.

“Kate Argent speaking.”

“Erm…hi.”

“What do you want?”

“Is Chris there?”

“He’s out of town at the moment. Can I take a message?”

“Yeah I’m from Beacon Hills and I need a hunter.”

“My brother is a weapons specialist, not a hunter, kid.”

“Erm…not even for werewolves?”

“Who the hell is this?”

“Look, I just need some help.”

“You said you’re from Beacon Hills?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you seen the animal?”

“No, my friend did.”

“Did it bite him?”

“No.”

“You don’t sound sure? If it bit him, I advise you to get as far away from him as possible.”

“No, it didn’t bite him. He’s fine.”

“Well. Good. You called the right people; I’ll be there in a couple of days.” The line went dead, and Stiles moved the phone away from his ear. Scott beamed at him, and Stiles opened and closed his mouth a few times before speaking.

“I think we may have just made a mistake.”

            Scott and Stiles had a lot to worry about if it was just Kate Argent and the werewolf thing then that might have been okay, but now his dad had come home and told him that they had identified the half body. 

Laura Hale.

The fact was that his dad was still suspicious that Derek had come into town just as Laura had gone missing. Stiles doesn’t want to believe that Derek killed his own sister, but it’s not like he doesn’t know what Derek is capable of. Scott meets his eyes over the room, and Stiles knows he’s thinking the same thing that maybe Derek is a killer in this life as well. His dad goes to bed, and Scott waits till he’s at the top of the stairs before he speaks. 

“We need to find out if he did this.”

“How Scott? You wanna walk up and ask him.”

“What if we go check out his place.”

“You mean the burned shell of The Hale House.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, when?”

“Right now.”

“Why don’t we ever do something the next day? Why is it always right now?”

“My mom says it’s just because were too curious for our own good.”

“She’s probably right. Okay but we have to be back before midnight.” They both nodded and then left Stiles house as quietly as possible. On the way to the house, they tried to think of a plan to infiltrate Derek’s house without waking him up. They discussed different strategies and decided that they would leave the jeep halfway up the path and then walk up, and then they would go in through the hole in the side of the house without Derek ever knowing they were there. This might have been a better plan if they knew about Derek’s advantage. 

            They made it all the way to Derek’s living room before they got caught, technically they got caught before they drove up the path but this was Derek actually staring at them from the doorway. Stiles and Scott stood up straight and stared at him. Derek cocked an eyebrow at them both and folded his arms over his chest. Stiles looked him up and down, and he wanted to touch him, he made a step forward and Scott grabbed his arm. 

“What are you doing here?”

“We…erm…just wanted to say welcome to the town.”

“At ten at night.”

“We are welcoming at all hours of the day.”

“Tell you what. How about you two drop the crap and tell me why you are here again?”

“We wanted to say welcome that is all. Now we’ll just go.” They both turned to leave, but before they could even make a step out of the house, they were both face first against the wall. Stiles pushed back against the hand gripping his shirt, but he was just forced closer to the wall. Scott was fairing slightly better by using his werewolf abilities but still to no avail.

“What the fuck dude?”

“Why. Are. You. Here.”

“Welcoming committee.”

“Tell you what. You answer me truthfully because I know when you’re lying, and I’ll let you leave.”

“We want to know if you killed your sister.”

“Stiles!” Derek pushed against them then moved back out of their space. He was across the side of the room shrouded by the dark, but Stiles could tell how tense he was. Had seen it so much, he knew how Derek looked when he was sad, how he looked when he was tired, and right now he was pissed.

“You think I killed my sister.” His laugh was humourless, and he brought his arms back up over his chest.

“The Sheriff’s Department thinks you did.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m– we’re here.”

“No, I didn’t. I came here looking for her. I found the other half of her body.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that. Do you know what did it?”

“Who did it. And a hunter I’m assuming.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait. You’re a werewolf.”

“Yes.”

“Like Scott.”

“No. I’m born.”

“That’s possible?”

“Yes.”

“Was it you that bit my friend!”

“No. Only an Alpha can turn someone.”

“Well, do you know where we can find the alpha?”

“No.”

“Are you going to start being helpful?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“You broke into my house and then accused me of killing my sister.”

“I didn’t accuse. Who accused! I asked a question. If you take that as an accusation, then that’s your problem.”

“Go home.”

“You haven’t even helped us.”

“When did I ever say I would?”

“Well, I just assumed you would.”

“You assumed wrong.” Derek didn’t wait for them to reply he just turned on his heel and headed further into the house.

“Let’s go, Scott.”

“But what–”

“Forget it. We’ll figure it out ourselves.” Stiles turned and left back through the hole, Scott hesitated and looked towards where Derek had gone but sighed and followed Stiles out of the house.

            It had been two days since Stiles and Scott had gone to Derek and so far they had no idea how to find the alpha. They had been researching non-stop to try and come up with a way to signal the alpha or bring it to them.

“This is hopeless.”

“We can’t give up now.”

“Yes, actually we can. Stiles we’ve been at this for two days and nothing.”

“We just have to keep trying.”

“Maybe we should go back to Derek.”

“We don’t need Derek.”

“Stiles he’s the only one who knows about this– someone is coming up the path.”

“How did you– super hearing freaks me out, man.”

“Freaks you out, I can hear your heartbeat.”

“Can you control it now?”

“No. I’m learning to live with the fact that everything is just _really_ loud.”

“Oh. I’ll be right back.”

“Great.” Stiles pushed up from his chair and headed downstairs; his foot just touched the bottom step as a knock came on the door. He pulled the door open and the woman dropped her hand to her side and smiled at him. Stiles gulped as he looked her over, and she smirked as his eyes trailed over her. There was a predatory glint in her eye as she looked at him and Stiles honestly feared for his life a little. 

“Er..hey.”

“Stiles Stilinski.”

“Yeah.”

“Glad I found you. You know the other day when you called I totally forgot to get your name but don’t worry I tracked you down.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

 

“Kate Argent.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Can I come in?” She was already pushing past him and walking into his living room. Before he closed the door he noticed a black SUV waiting at the kerb; two men were standing beside it. What the hell has he got himself into? He knew Scott was still upstairs so he kept his voice low and told him to go out the back window. The men glared at him the longer he stared so he gave a small wave before closing the door.

“Well please make yourself comfortable.” 

“Let’s get right down to it. You said there were werewolves here.”

“Well, there’s like one werewolf. That I know off.”

“And that is?”

“The one my friend saw.”

“Hmm. And what did it look like?”

“Erm big and weird. Like sort of deformed and really angry.”

“Not exactly a lot to go on. Why did your friend see it?”

“Well, we went into the forest to look for a body and then I got caught, and he was still out there.”

“A body?”

“Yeah, Laura Hale.” Someone would have had to be blind to miss the way her whole body tensed. Her hand flinched against her belt, and her eyes were filled with a new kind of intensity.

“Hale?”

“Yeah. Did you know her?”

“No, not her. But I did know her brother Derek.” The way she said it left a horrible taste in his mouth, and the smile that stretched across her face made him want to throw up. 

“You were together.” The words were out before he could stop them and her gaze sharpened like she hadn’t been expecting the statement. The accusation.

“Briefly.” It was an irrational feeling to want to stab the woman, but he did. It was stupid, and it was jealousy, but he didn’t care because she had touched him. Her hands had been on his body, her lips on his and he had to swallow the sick that rose in his throat. The look in her eye showed that she didn’t appreciate the time she spent with him, wasn’t grateful for the time she had. It was pathetic, but he was almost wished he was her. “Do you know him?”

“No. I’ve only seen pictures.”

“Because your fathers the Sheriff.”

“How did you know that?”

“Same way I know your name. Well, that’s all I need. You’ve been very helpful Eugeniusz.” His eyes snapped up to meet hers, and she smirked at him like she knew everything. As though she knew about Scott, about Derek and he felt like she knew who he was. She walked past him and out of his house, and he waited till the door closed before he was bending over and taking in deep breaths.

            Once he finally calmed down, he ran back upstairs and sighed in relief when he got to his room. It was empty. Scott had heard him and left. His best friend was safe, and Kate would find the Alpha and kill it. He just really needed to take a shower now because it was like he could feel her on him. Or feel her on Derek. No, he wasn’t going to think about them together. Derek has always been with other people and just because he remembers who Derek is, doesn’t mean he can be mad. The man is six years older than him, of course, he’s been with other people. Yeah, he’s really going to need a shower.

            After he’s practically rubbed his skin raw, he goes back to his bedroom to sleep. That’s all he wants to do, just sleep for a few years and pretend that he’s a normal teenager. Not some cursed kid who’s died so many times he’s lost count. Of course, nothing was ever that easy for him so it’s not surprising that he’s getting shoved into a wall as soon as he’s got his pyjamas on. 

“What did you do?” Derek was so close to him. Close enough that Stiles could count the hairs in his beard if he wanted to. Not that he did because that would be weird. Derek’s hand was fisted in his shirt, and the man pulled him forward before slamming him back into the wall.

“What the hell did you do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The hunter. Why was she here!”

“I called her!”

“You did what?”

“Well, you weren’t gonna help us so I called somebody who would.”

“You think she’s gonna help you. She is gonna make sure she kills every werewolf here and then leave.”

“No. She’s just gonna find the Alpha.”

“And she will and then she’ll kill him. And she will kill me, and she will kill Scott.” Derek releases his shirt and moves towards the window. No, he needed him to understand. He couldn’t just leave. 

“I just wanted to help Scott.” Derek looks back at him, his face emotionless and one foot out of the window.

“Well congratulations you just helped kill him.” It was like he’d just been shot. And he would know because he’d been shot and it was a long time ago but he remembers what it was like. The pain was spreading through his chest until he couldn’t breathe but last time, last time Derek was holding him tight and begging him not to leave him. Now the man just jumps out of the window like he’s not causing Stiles physical pain with his words. Like the way he looks at him isn’t destroying him one tiny bit at a time. Because it’s not, hate. Derek doesn’t hate him. It’s indifference. It’s nothing. There is nothing, and that hurts more than anything because Derek doesn’t even care enough to hate him. He doesn’t care about him at all.

Stiles slides down his door and pulls his knees up till he can wrap his arms around them. Why did it have to be him that remembered everything? He was never the strong one. Derek had always been the strongest out of the two of them, the one that could protect him and fought for him. The one that had died for him so many times. And now here he was alone in his bedroom pretending to hate the man that he so desperately loved. The man that didn’t even seem to care whether he was here or not. Who probably wouldn’t bat an eyelash if Stiles died. There was a solution to it. Obviously, he could kiss Derek, and the man would remember everything. But then one of them would die, and he couldn’t do that to Derek. He would be strong for him; he could do this even if it meant living a life without him. Because Derek deserved it. Deserved to be happy with someone that he could kiss and have a life with. He dropped his head forward onto his knees and let the tears fall till he was too tired to cry anymore.

            The next morning he woke up with a crick in his neck. He was curled up in front of his bedroom door with his head pillowed on his arm, and his head was killing him. There was a pounding in his ears, and it sounded like his heartbeat, but he could be wrong. His alarm was going off beside his bed so he pushed himself up and dragged his self over to turn it off. He caught sight of himself in his bedroom mirror and grimaced. His eyes were swollen and red, his hair was stuck up on one side, and flat on the other, and there were dark circles under his eyes. In short, he was a mess. This was going to be such a fun day.

            He was standing outside his locker when Scott came bounding up to him. God, he was always so chipper.

“What happened with Kate?”

“She knows far too much about me but nothing about you.”

“Wait, she doesn’t know like everything about you…”

“I don’t think so. I mean she knew my real name, but I think it was more an intimidation tactic than anything.”

“So, she did a background check on you?”

“Pretty much, dude.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“She used to know Derek.”

“How did sh– _oh._ You mean like she _knew_ Derek. Dude, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like he’s mine.”

“Of course, he is. You saw him first. And I think like hundreds of years of dibs means more than her womanly wiles.”

“Womanly wiles?”

“Yeah man. Older women always have them.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Dude, shut up. You said you’d never mention that again.”

“It was just so funny Scott. She’s the school's librarian.”

“How was I supposed to know she was hitting on me!”

“Whatever, man. I believe you.”

“Yeah sure you do. So, did anything else happen last night?”

“Nah. I just went to bed.”

“You’re lying.”

“How do you know?”

“Well your heartbeat but also I’m your best friend, idiot.”

“Derek came over.”

“Why didn’t you call me?!”

“Because it didn’t matter. It was fine. We argued then he left.”

“You expect me to believe that’s all that happened.”

“And then I cried. Whatever.” 

“Come on man. Meet me outside after school and we can eat ice-cream.”

“Thanks.” They parted ways to go to class, but Stiles was already looking forward to hanging out with his best friend after school. Stiles turned a corner and nearly fell back as someone walked into him. The girl looked terrified and kept looking behind her for something.

“Lydia?”

“What?”

“Lydia, it’s me, Stiles. We’ve been in the same classes since 3rd grade.”

“I know.”

“That’s good. Are you okay?”

“There was something…”

“What was it? What did you see?”

“I don’t know. It was huge.”

“Okay. Where did you see it?”

“The field.”

“Okay.” He walked around her and was about to head towards the field when she grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“To check it out.”

“Are you crazy!” 

“Maybe. But I need to check it out.” She kept her hand wrapped around his arm and followed him down the hall. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“No. I want to know what the hell it was.” He nodded his head, and he knows she wouldn’t have said no anyway. This was the girl who climbed to the top of the climbing wall for fun when she was ten. Like how is that fun? It’s like really high off the ground. They walked down the hall till they reached the doors at the end. 

“Well hurry up.” He jumped at her voice and glared at her. You didn’t just speak during a tense moment. But Lydia clearly didn’t care because she was pulling the door open and going outside without him. He scrambled to follow her, and they both looked around but couldn’t see anything outside.

“It was right there.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. That thing was standing in the middle of the field, and it was just staring at me. As soon as it moved, I ran into the building.”

“Okay, that was probably a good idea.” 

“You know what it was, don’t you?”

“Mountain lion. Obviously.” She opened her mouth to say something, but Stiles couldn’t risk dragging anyone else into the mess that was his life so he ran away. There’s no shame in running away from your problems, and he could hear her shouting at him, but he wasn’t going to be responsible for someone else getting hurt. His jeep was in the parking lot where he’d left it so he ran to it and jumped in. His dad would want to know why he skipped school, but he’d had plenty of practice pretending to be sick. He was about to start her up when Lydia opened the door and jumped in.

“Erm?”

“I’m on the track team, Stiles. I’m a good runner, heels or not. So we’re we going?”

“Nowhere. Get out Lydia.”

 

“Nope. Better get driving.” He rolls his eyes but pulls out of the parking lot anyway; apparently, he’s dragging someone else into this life whether he likes it or not. 


	6. Chapter 6

“So you’re telling me that you’re actually hundreds of years old?”

“No…well sort off…I guess my mind is.”

“Your mind?”

“Yeah see I can remember everything from all of my past lives, but I’m still just a teenager.”

“And you’re meant to be with a guy called Derek?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s a werewolf?”

“Yes.”

“And the thing I saw was an alpha werewolf but in full wolf form?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t know who it is.”

“Nope.”

“And Scott McCall is also a werewolf.”

“He was bitten by the Alpha.”

“Then you and Scott went to look for a dead body that turned out to be Derek's sister who you then accused of murdering his sister?”

“In my defence, he was a serial killer in a past life.”

“I’m sure that went down with him really well.”

“Oh, he doesn’t know.”

“Wait, Derek doesn’t know who you are, but you know who he is?”

“Exactly.”

“Why?”

“I have been asking myself that question for a long time.”

“So, when are you gonna tell him?”

“I’m not.”

“But he’s your soul mate or whatever.”

“Yeah and as soon as I kiss him, he’ll remember everything and then one of us will die. And I won’t put him through that Lydia. I love him, and he deserves much more than me, so I’m not gonna tell him.”

“For what it’s worth Stiles you seem like a really good man. And I think Derek is lucky.”

“You know this is the most we’ve ever spoken considering we’ve been in the same schools since we were 8.”

“We run in different circles. I’m incredibly popular, and you’re well…not.”

“I know. You know I gotta say you are handling this incredibly well.”

“Stiles, I’m extremely smart, and you don’t get to be this smart by ignoring the impossible. Or well I guess it’s not so impossible anymore since you’re sat in front of me.”

“I don’t want to drag you into this. Lydia this is more dangerous than you think.”

“Well too bad cause I’m in it now. And I’m gonna help you.”

“How?”

“I’m gonna get you as much information on Kate Argent as possible.”

“No. Look if Derek’s right then she’s dangerous and I can’t put you at risk. If she found out you were looking into her, then she might think you’re a werewolf or a hunter or something.”

“Oh, Stiles you shouldn’t underestimate popularity.”

“Erm- what?” A smirk in reply was definitely not the answer he was looking for. 

He hadn’t spoken to Lydia since yesterday. The woman had asked him a lot of questions before deciding she had all the information she needed then left. He assumed she’d tell him something today but so far nothing. Not that he’s actually seen her around, the most he’s seen was her red hair at the end of the corridor or hearing her voice in the cafeteria. Which is why he can’t help the scream he lets out when he’s pulled into a janitor’s closet. 

“Did you just scream?”

“Lydia?”

“Of course.”

“Why are we in here?”

“To talk obviously. I found some things out.”

“Already? Wait, how?”

“Hacked her computer, old records you know that kind of stuff.”

“Lydia are you crazy!”

“Stiles it’s fine my friend Danny did it.”

“The lacrosse goalie?”

“One in the same.”

“And he’s good at that stuff?”

“You don’t get put on watch lists for being bad.”

“Watchlists?!”

“Shh. Someone’s coming.” You know when someone shouts act inconspicuous, and you can’t remember how you usually stand. Yeah.

The door to the closet is yanked open and Stiles gapes at his best friend. 

“Dude! I heard you scream.”

“I was shocked. Just get in here.” Scott crowds into the small closet, and the three try to adjust themselves to the small space. Stiles ends up pushed into the door, and Scott tries not to elbow Lydia in her side. 

“What’s going on?”

“Lydia is helping us.”

“Oh okay. Does she…”

“Know you’re a werewolf? Yes.”

“Awesome. It’ll be cool to discuss it with someone other than Stiles; he always wants to hit me with stuff.”

“That was one time.” Lydia pushed a hand over each of their mouths and glared at them.

“Back to business. Kate Argent has been in Beacon Hills before. She was here a few years ago, around the time of the Hale fire actually.”

“What?”

“Apparently, she was in town for six months before it happened and then she left the night before.”

“She told me she knew Derek and that they- they- erm- you know.”

“How much do you know about the case?”

“It was ruled an accident. But my dad suspected arson and Derek was the number one suspect.”

“How come?”

“When everyone got there Derek was standing outside screaming I’m sorry.”

“What if he was screaming it because it was his fault?”

“No.”

“Stiles look at the facts. She was here for six months and conveniently left the night before, Derek was probably only 16 at the time, and she’s a beautiful older woman. What better way to kill an entire pack of werewolves than with an inside man? Come on; it’s plausible.”

“What! That he killed his whole family! Not in this lifetime, Lydia.”

“What about the others?”

“It’s just an expression.”

“Not for you. Has he killed his family before?”

“Lydia-”

“Tell me, Stiles! Could he have done this?”

“NO! No. He has killed people, but he never hurt his family.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

“To talk to Derek. If we wanna figure this thing out then, we need to talk to him.”

“Great, we’ll come with.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Yes, we will. Scott is there anyone in the hall.”

“No.”

“Great. Let’s go.” This woman was actually going to drive him insane. Apparently, she wasn’t going to drive Scott insane though his best friend was far too trusting. Or he might be intimidated. Those are the only two reasons for him following her like a puppy dog right now. Or maybe it’s because he’s actually a puppy now, oh my god his best friend has become an actual puppy. Holy shit! He needs to start writing down jokes.

“Stiles!” He can do it later.

All three of them were sat in the jeep, Stiles in the front all by himself and Lydia and Scott in the back. Apparently, Lydia wanted to do some minor tests on Scott, which seriously if he didn’t know she was dating Jackson Whittemore then he’d be really suspicious right now. There’s a small yelp from the back and in the mirror, he can see Scott frowning down at his arm.

“What happened?”

“Nothing!” See suspicious. 

“What really happened?” He’s using the tone. The tone, his dad, used to use on him when he knew he’d done something wrong.

“I pricked Scott with a needle.” There’s a slight shrug of her shoulders added to her words and he can’t help raising his eyebrow at her.

“Why?”

“To see the healing process.” Why does he feel like a scolding father? Oh right, the tone.

“Lydia. Scott is not a science experiment.”

“I know.”

“And Scott you can’t let Lydia do these things to you.”

“I know.”

“Have you healed?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, no more pricking please.” There was a small giggle from the back and Stiles didn’t even have to look to know it was Scott and the word prick. His best friend was such a child sometimes. 

“Are we there yet?” Like he said, a child.

“Not yet.”

“The ride seemed shorter last time.”

“Well, it wasn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Scott I’m sure.”

“Okay.”     

 “When are we going to get there?” Oh great now Lydia was joining in. At what point did he have two children, he did not sign up for this part of the whole reincarnation thing. 

“Lydia, please don’t start.”

“I’m just curious.”

“Well, curiosity killed the cat.”

“Yeah but satisfaction brought it back.” Dammit, he forgot she would know things like that. Scott never knows anything like that; his retorts are always terrible. It’s always stuff like ‘well so is your face’ or ‘yeah but what am I’. They’re utterly ridiculous and childish and never fail to make him laugh. He flicked his eyes up to the rear-view mirror, and he could see Lydia smirking away at him. 

“I don’t get it.” Oh, Scott. He was about to open his mouth to start explaining it, but Lydia had already leant closer to him to start explaining it. Seriously he’s going to start getting suspicious. The turn off for the old house is coming up so he signals and pulls off down the dirt path. His heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of his chest; he’s surprised Scott hasn’t mentioned it. Although at this moment he’s apparently too preoccupied with listening to Lydia. The path starts to open up, and he parks right at the edge of the open space. 

Derek’s already standing on the porch when he stops the car. A loud whistle sounds out through the car, and he spins to glare at Lydia. He hisses her name, and she simply smiles at him, he has a feeling he’s going to become very well acquainted with that smile. It looks pure evil. A loud knock on the window makes him jerk to the side, but he still has his belt on, and he ends up being snapped against his seat. Outside the car, Derek looks like he actually wants to just bang his face off the car. Lydia and Scott are climbing out of the car before he can even undo his belt. 

“-here to help you.” Is all he hears when he finally gets out of the car.

“I don’t need anyone’s help. Especially not three high schoolers.” Lydia is talking before he can even register what Derek has said. He has a small feeling that this might happen quite often.

“Look, Derek, can I call you Derek? Great, cause I’m gonna do it anyway. You have a problem with Kate Argent, and we are here to help you. Now you seem like a very angry man, but I’m sure you have some kind of self-preservation in you so just let us help.”

“No.”

“Think about it.” Derek rolls his head from side to side and then looks back to Lydia.

“No.”

“You didn’t think about it.”

“Sure I did.”

“Listen to me very carefully, Derek, we are not leaving here until we find out what you know. See we’re already pretty caught up on your past but we need to know what you know now. So, you can continue this big bad attitude, or you can start talking. It’s up to you really. Cause either way you’re gonna tell us what you know now, or you’ll tell us later. And it’ll be much more helpful now. So, do you wanna be the douchebag or the helpful guy?” If it’s possible Derek’s scowl somehow manages to get more intense, and it looks incredibly painful for his face.

“What do you want to know.”

“Did you kill your family?” It looks like the entirety of Derek’s body goes rigid as soon as the words reach his ears, and he knows Lydia catalogues it, but she doesn’t look like she regrets the question.

“Yes.” His stomach drops and his heart misses about seven beats, and he leans back against the jeep as subtlety as possible. Scott looks at him with concern but he gestures for them to continue the questioning, they might never get another chance. 

“Did you light the fire?”

“No.”

“Did you trap them in the house?”

“No.”

“Then what exactly did you do.”

“I made it possible for her to kill them.”

“How?”

“How is any of this important?”

“Because we need to know you’re trustworthy.”

“We slept together. I thought I was in love with her, and I told her everything about my family because I didn’t know she was a hunter. And one night she told me to meet her at the same motel we always met, and she never showed. It turned out she was too busy burning my family alive.”

“Why did she let you live?”

“Because to her nothing was better than watching a werewolf go insane from losing his entire pack.”

“You didn’t lose everyone, though.”

“Why do you think I’m still sane.” Derek grits out the words like it physically hurts him and Lydia’s eyes fill with something. If he was pressed he’d say it was pity, but it looks like there’s more to it. It looks like Derek see’s it too if his disgusted expression is anything to go by. Stiles gets it. Eventually, the pity just gets annoying.

“I hope she pays for what she did to you.” Derek jerks back in surprise, clearly not expecting that from her and his shoulders drop a little. “Let us help you, Derek.”

“You’re just a bunch of kids.”

“You’re only 22, Derek, and nobody should have to fight something alone.”

“Fine. You can help but once this is over we’re done.”

“Awesome, so what’s the plan?”

 

“Kill the alpha before she does. And either make her leave town or kill her.” Great. This is absolutely great. They were all gonna work together, and he would get to see Derek every day until he just ups and leaves. That is just awesome.


	7. Chapter 7

To say they were getting off to a bad start was an understatement. They’d been standing around in Derek’s house for the better part of an hour telling him everything they currently knew. Derek, in turn, told them everything he knew, or at least everything he said he knew. The three of them knew that they were hiding a rather large piece of information from the man, so there was every chance he was hiding things from them. 

“I think we should tell the Sheriff.”

“No.”

“Stiles, he should know that Derek didn’t do this.”

“I said no. We’re not bringing my dad into this.” Over his lives, a lot of people had been hurt because of him, and he refused to let his dad be hurt in this one. If he had to, he would bring his dad into this but for now, there was no way he was putting him in more danger than he was daily.

“Sti-”

“I agree with him. Right now clearing my name isn’t important.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because dealing with the alpha is our priority.” The man didn’t even look at him when he said it; his stance stayed tense, and he kept his eyes trained on the wall behind them.

“Right.” When he thought about getting Derek’s help, he never thought about what it would be like standing in the same room as him for a long period of time. His fingers keep twitching with the need to touch some part of Derek, and he feels like his body keeps moving closer to the man. 

“Do you have a problem?” He jerks as Derek's voice rings out in the room and he realises he’d been staring at him.

“No. I was just thinking, sorry.” Derek rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Lydia, and it definitely wasn’t helping that he only paid attention to Lydia. All of his questions were directed towards her, the discussion was had with her, and his focus was completely on her. His jealousy was rearing its ugly head, and apparently, Scott had picked up some change in him because he kept looking at him in confusion. It was stupid; he knew it was stupid because Lydia was beautiful and obviously Derek wasn’t going to be able to keep his eyes off of her. Not to mention that he was choosing to give Derek up so it wasn’t like he could stop the man from being with other people. He’d just hoped that he would never have to actually see Derek with someone else. Especially not someone who could be his friend.

            Lydia refused to spend any more time than necessary at Derek’s house. Apparently, the burnt out shell of someone’s home is creepy. Who knew? They moved to a coffee shop in town instead and took a booth in the back to talk about a plan. So far they hadn’t really talked about a new plan.

“You know, Derek, you could make more of an effort to not look like we’ve just kidnapped you.” The man was pushed far into the corner of the booth; his arms crossed tightly over his chest and a scowl that seemed to be permanently etched onto his face. 

“Believe me nobody in this room thinks that I’m the one here against my will.” If looks could- no actually if Derek could get away with murder then Lydia would already be dead. Maybe he didn’t have much to worry about with them. 

“I’m sure no one thinks you forced us here.” Her tone was dismissive, but Derek didn’t look like he was about to let this go.

“The couple in the corner thinks I might be threatening the three of you. The group at the counter think that I’m either your bookie or your drug dealer. And the three over at the first table think I’m some kind of enforcer for a drug dealer, and I’m here to collect.”

“Well, maybe if you weren’t wearing the leather and the permanent scowl on your face people wouldn’t think you were a drug dealer.”

“It doesn’t matter what I wear everyone in this town thinks I killed my family. So, no matter what I do or wear people will still think bad things about me because I killed my family. And I don’t care what you have to say about it; I’m here because I need your help not because I want to be.” Lydia opened her mouth to reply, but Scott was already holding up a hand and cutting her off.

“Stop it. We’re here to figure out what to do. Not talk about Derek’s general level of scariness or whether or not he’s kidnapped us.”

“Kidnapping isn’t really your style is it now, Derek?” The man completely tensed beside him, and he jumped forward as a hand curled over his shoulder. Blonde hair fell into the corner of his eye, and he could feel more than hear the low growl coming from Derek. “I believe it's arson, is it not?” Nobody at the table dared say anything as Kate met Derek’s eyes over his head. Stiles flicked his eyes up to meet Scott’s, and his friend looked a little terrified of the woman. “Funny, I remember your little friend here telling me that he didn’t know you.” The hand squeezed tight on his shoulder, and he tried to keep his face straight, but her nails were biting into his skin. There were definitely going to be indents in his shoulder.

“They don’t know each other. Stiles and Scott work for me on the school newspaper. When I saw Mr Hale I couldn’t resist trying to get a quote.” Kate’s gaze slid over to Lydia and her hands softened on him. The look was cold and calculating, but Lydia didn’t even react to it. 

“And you are?”

“Lydia Martin. And you?”

“Kate Argent.”

“Never heard of you.”

“Good. Well, I’ll leave you to your…interview.”

“Thank you.”

“Word of advice, don’t get messed up in Derek Hale, people close to him have a habit of dying.” The growling beside him started getting louder and instinctively he placed his hand over Derek's. The shock from his action was enough to stop the growling.

“I believe your coffee is ready to take out.”

“Wonderful seeing you, Derek.” With a final smirk, Kate was pulling her hands from him, grabbing her coffee and leaving. They all sat in silence until they were sure that Kate had really gone.

“Quick thinking with the paper thing.” Stiles let out a small hollow laugh, but everyone just looked at him then looked away. Derek spoke first.

“We’re going back to my house.” Nobody wanted to disagree, not even Lydia. A creepy house was far preferable to Kate Argent.

It wasn’t until they were moving out of the booth that Stiles realised he’d never bothered to take his hand off of Derek's. The realisation didn’t really mean much it just made him feel like his hand was burning.  

            They’d been coming to Derek’s house for a week. They would head over to his place straight after school, and they would sit and plan. Except after about three days they’d run out of the things to plan and Lydia decided that they needed more to go on. This is why he’s sat on the front of his jeep while Scott shows Lydia everything he can do. He knows Derek’s inside, the man has barely done anything but avoid them. Although it wasn’t exactly like he was doing anything to stop Derek from avoiding them. If the man had tried to hang out with them, he would be doing exactly what he was now, sitting as far away from him as possible. 

“Throw rocks at him!” Scott whipped his head around to glare at him, and he beamed over at his best friend. His smile only got bigger when his friend turned around and got a pebble to the face. Lydia covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes widened, and her shoulders started to shake. She dropped her hand, and he could hear her saying ‘I’m sorry’ but the apology was ruined by her laughter. Scott nodded his head then he could hear him saying something about testing his tracking skills and then Lydia was throwing the rest of her pebbles at him and running into the woods. 

“You’re avoiding me.” Stiles almost fell off of the jeep as Derek appeared behind him.

“Why would you do that?”

“You’re avoiding me. Why?”

“I’m not.”

“Lie.”

“Why do you even care?”

“We’re supposed to be working together. Can’t do that if you won’t even be in the same room as me.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I can smell it, you know.” Panic rushed over him so quickly that he could almost taste it he knew Derek would catch it. 

“Smell what?”

“Disgust, guilt, anger. I get it; it’s the same feelings I have.” Well, that was like a punch to the gut. “You think I don’t hate myself for what I did. I know it was my fault my family died but if you wanna work together then get over it. I have.” It wasn’t true, he knew it wasn’t true, but it was easier. It was easier just to nod his head and let Derek think that he hated him for what happened to his family. Derek nodded back and turned to walk back in the house, but he couldn’t leave it like that. 

“You should train Scott.”

“What?”

“He needs help, and you’re a werewolf. Help him.” It probably seemed like an olive branch to the man, but that was all he needed it to be so he didn’t care. Derek didn’t turn to look at him or turn to answer he just nodded and moved back towards the house. If it weren't for Lydia running back into the area he’s sure, he would have spent all day staring after the man he loved. 

            After a weekend of watching Lydia attempt to train Scott Derek snapped. The man came storming out of his house and told her to go sit down and watch and learn. Apparently, he couldn’t listen to her theories on werewolves anymore. So far Scott was doing pretty well if you counted being thrown into a boulder for the third time, well. Still, it was better than the five times yesterday.

“Again.”

“I don’t want to do it again.”

“Scott, attack me.”

“I don’t want to attack you.”

“If you don’t attack me, I’m going to make Stiles attack me, and when he hits that boulder, he will not heal.”

“You’re not a nice person.”

“Then attack me!” His best friend heaved a sigh with his whole body then ran straight at Derek who easily grabbed Scott’s shirt and used his momentum to throw the boy into a tree.

“You alright, buddy?” A weak groan came from the trees, and a limp hand waved at them. 

“Get up, Scott!”

“I’m injured.”

“You’ll heal.”

“I hate you.”

“I don’t care. We have a lot to do.” Oh god, this was going to take a while. 

***

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“Go into the forest and wait for Scott to find you.”

“Why me?”

“Just go.”

“Fine.”

***

“You need to find an anchor.”

“Like a boat?”

“Sure.”

“What will it do?”

“It’ll give you something to focus on.”

“What’s yours?”

“Anger.”

“How do I choose one?”

“Just find something that means a lot to you.”

“Can I have two?”

“You can have whatever you want. It’s your anchor.”

“So, like Stiles and my mom.”

“Aw, dude, I’m your anchor?”

“Of course, man.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“If you two are done.”

***

“Dude, try flicking it!”

“Flicking won’t help.”

“Just let him try it.”

“He needs to focus.”

“I think you need to give him a break!”

“He needs to be pushed.”

“He won’t be able to do it if he’s tense.”

“He’s going to have to learn how to do it no matter the situation!”

“Let him work up to it!”

“Erm…guys?”

“He doesn’t need to work up to it, Stiles, he has to just do it.”

“Stop pressuring him!”

“Guys, I’ve done it. My claws are out.”

***

“I can bump him with my jeep!”

“For the last time, no!”

***

            The training was almost going smoothly. Scott was starting to show some improvement, and they were all getting along. Well, everyone except Stiles and Derek who could barely speak to each other without arguing about something or…everything. It wasn’t like Stiles wanted to argue with the man he just couldn’t help it. Everything about this Derek set him on edge, and his nerves felt frayed after every encounter. The problem was that he kept trying to match Derek up in his head, kept trying to find some sort of commonality with who he was and who he was supposed to be. 

But there was nothing.

The man he had fallen for so long ago had been selfless, soft-spoken, relaxed and smart. This man, this Derek, was rough, hard around the edges, angry, uncaring and antisocial. He didn’t care what happened to them he just needed them to beat Kate Argent and the alpha. 

He can’t begin to imagine how he would ever have been drawn to this man. If he hadn’t remembered everything in this lifetime, he’s not sure how he would ever have ended up with Derek. 

“Are you alright?” He managed to stop himself from jumping as Lydia appeared beside him. 

“I’m fine.” A scowl crossed her features at his answer, and she looked over to where Derek and Scott were fighting. The men were clearly distracted, but she kept her voice low regardless.

“You’re not fine, Stiles. You think we haven’t all noticed how you can barely be around him. And I see the way you look at him like you can’t believe it’s him and at the same time like you don’t want to believe it is. Look I can’t even begin to imagine how you feel right now, but you can be honest with me.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m fine or not. The man I loved is gone. I might get him back in the next life but in this one, he doesn’t exist.”

“Stiles, what are you talking about? You told me that his memories will come back when you kiss. If you kiss him, he’ll become that man again.”

“No, because I will never kiss him. I won’t put him through it again. I love him too much.” He couldn’t bear to look her in the eye when he knew exactly what would be there. Disappointment at his choice, anger at the curse but most of all it would be sadness. It was the same look Scott had been giving him since he told him the truth and it was the look he hated more than anything. He'd get a similar one when his mother died; he sometimes wondered if he still would have gotten if they’d known it was his fault. 

“You know, for what it’s worth, I think you’re making a mistake.” Funnily enough so had Scott.

“I was selfish once, Lydia. I won’t do it again.”

“What are you talking about?” He didn’t bother answering her, he didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want her to know the whole truth. Derek dropped Scott down onto his back and he jumped off the jeep to put an end to the beat down his best friend was receiving.  

As he opened his mouth, a low growl vibrated through the open space and Derek was instantly on high alert. The man dropped his claws and hair sprouted across his face as his eyes scanned the area. The growl seemed to be coming from all around them, and the four moved closer together till they were standing in the middle of the space. 

“I’m thinking that we can stop making plans to find the alpha.”

“Shut up, Stiles.” For once he actually listened to the man. A large deformed wolf stepped out from behind the trees, its eyes glowing bright red and spit dripping from its teeth. 

“All of you stay behind me.” 

“Derek-“

“Not the time, Stiles.” The Alpha roared out at them, and Derek's eyes glowed blue as he roared back before charging at it. They clashed in the middle and Stiles heart seized in his chest as the alphas claws embedded in Derek’s sides. The man howled in pain as he was tossed aside. Stiles almost ran to him but Lydia dragged him back, and Scott moved in front of them. 

“Scott!”

“Stay behind me!”

“I think we figured out the first time that that doesn’t work!” Scott crouched down in front of them, focusing on Stiles heartbeat to ground him and he let his claws slide out. The alpha charged at them but before it could make contact Derek was slamming into its side, and the two hit the ground, hard. They rolled around on the floor until Derek gained the leverage and dug his claws into the alphas chest. It howled in pain but was quicker to recover as it dragged its claws down Derek's own chest. Blood spilt from the wounds and his mouth as the alpha dropped him to the ground. The alpha turned its attention to them, and Scott’s eyes glowed yellow as it stared at him. His best friend seemed to be in some sort of daze as the alpha stalked closer to them.

“Scott!” His best friend shook his head and charged at the Alpha, Stiles took his chance and ran to Derek’s unmoving body. He dropped to his knees beside the man and dragged his hands over his body, the blood coating his fingers. The breathing was shallow, but it was there so he didn’t care. Distantly he was aware that he had his back to the fighting, and it was the most dangerous position to be in, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of the man in front of him. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, and he couldn’t die today because he wasn’t supposed to. If he died, it was supposed to be his fault, and Derek would remember who he was. 

“Not like this. Please not like this.” 

“Lydia!” Screams came from behind him, and he turned to see Scott fighting the alpha off as Lydia laid out on the ground. His mind screamed at him to go to her, to make sure she was okay but he couldn’t make his legs move. He couldn’t make himself leave Derek. He looked down at Derek, the man he loved, and he brought back his hand curled it into a fist and punched him in the face. The man gasped as his eyes flew open and his hand shot out and curled painfully around Stiles' arm. 

“Stiles?”

“Get up! We need your help.” He pulled his arm free from Derek and scrambled over to Lydia. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised she was taking in deep calm breaths. 

“Lydia?” Her head lolled to the side, and her eyes met his. “Are you okay?”

“Is Derek?”

“Yeah. He’s helping Scott.”

“I’m good. We need to get out of the way.”

“I agree.” She gave him a weak smile, and he helped her behind the jeep. They kept themselves hidden as Scott and Derek fought the alpha. The fight looked brutal from where he was sitting, and he could see red covering his best friend’s hand. It was hard to see who was causing what damage as they swiped and snapped at each other. For a moment it seemed like the alpha was the one winning but then Derek clawed at the side of his throat, and it ran for the woods. Stiles let out the breath he’d been holding and dropped his head against the jeep. They were going to be okay. They could totally handle all of this.

 

The thing is if Stiles hadn’t been paying such close attention to the fight then he might have noticed the blood on Lydia’s jumper. He might have noticed the way she pulled her sleeve further down her arm, and he definitely would have noticed the bite on her forearm. But fortunately for her, he hadn’t noticed a thing.


	8. Chapter 8

“Lydia! Lydia!” The girl jerked in his arms and when her eyes met his they were filled with panic. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yes. I’m fine.”

“Are you hurt?” Her hands pulled at her sleeve but she shook her head, and he helped her stand. Scott and Derek came around the edge of the jeep they’re faces and hands back to normal.

“Everyone okay?”

“We’re good.”

“You three need to leave.”

“Wait, what?”

“You three need to leave. I’m gonna find the alpha and kill him. Go back to your lives.”

“No!” Stiles grabbed Derek's arm and refused to let go until the man looked at him. “You’re not doing this alone.”

“This was a mistake from the beginning. I won’t put all of you at risk like this.”

“Well guess what, Derek, we are already at risk. Kate has seen us with you the alpha has seen us with you. We’re a part of this whether you like it or not.” They were standing toe to toe glaring at each other. Scott’s voice broke them out of their stare off.

“Lydia, are you bleeding?” They spun around to face the girl, and she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt under their stares.

“I…I don’t think so.” She flinched to the side as Scott stepped closer to her he brought his hand up to her face and pulled back part of her hair. A small trickle of blood was making its way down her temple. She pushed her fingers into the blood and looked at them in shock.

“I didn’t even realise.”

“We should get my mom to check that out.”

“It’s fine. I’m okay. It’s just a cut.”

“No, Scott’s right. We need to get you to the hospital.”

“No!” All eyes were on her, and she forced herself not to pull at her sleeves. “I just mean that I don’t know how we’d explain it. And I’m really fine.”

“Lydia-”

“If it would make you feel better, Scott, you can check up on me or something. But I am not going to the hospital.”

“Fine, but if you fall asleep, I am waking you up every half hour. The minute you don’t wake up, I will carry you there myself.”

“Okay.”

“You don’t want us to check up on you?” Please don’t say you want me to research alone with him. Do not do this to me Lydia Martin.

“Go home. We could all do with some rest.” Oh, thank God. “Derek, you need to stay with Stiles.” What.

“I’m not staying with him. I’ll stay here.”

“No, you won’t. First of all, this area is totally compromised. Second, of all, Kate and the alpha are after you, tell me somewhere safer than the sheriff’s house.”

“I…er…”            

“That’s what I thought. I’m tired, and I need a bath. So, Stiles we are all going to pile in your jeep and you are going to take Scott and me to my house, and you and Derek are going to yours. Do you all understand?” If any of them looked like they were about to disagree with her, she simply glared them into submission until all of them were nodding their heads.

“Good. Then let’s go.” They didn’t really have any other choice but to follow her when she climbed into the jeep without waiting for their response.

            This might actually be his worst nightmare right now. He’s dropped Lydia and Scott off at her place, and now he’s driving…in the car…alone…with Derek. How could she do this to him? How could she do this when she knows everything? A wave of panic washes over him when he can’t remember if he put his notebook away. Oh god, what if Derek finds it and kills him or worse kisses him?

“What’s wrong?”

“What!”

“I can smell you panicking, are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m not okay! I just got attacked by a werewolf. In what possible reality would I be okay?”

“Okay, stupid question. I meant what I said Stiles I can leave right now, and you can just go back to your life.”

“Derek, stop. We’re in this together. You, me, Lydia and Scott.”

“Stil-”

“Just stop! We’re not gonna change our minds, Derek! You’re not doing this alone.”

“How are you even gonna get me in your house?”

“Through the front door.”

“Oh really? You’re going to walk me through the front door of the Sheriff's house.”

“Just come in through the window!”

“Good idea.”

“How about we just don’t speak to each other for the rest of the ride?”

“I’m good with the rest of the night.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

            It wasn’t going to plan at all. Not, that there was actually a plan but if there were it wouldn’t be going to it. First, Derek had tried to climb in the window of his bedroom, but he’d forgotten that he’d locked it so of course, his neighbour had time to see Derek. Which led to him explaining to his 84 years old, nosey as all hell neighbour that Derek was his boyfriend and not his drug dealer. Then, that led to Stiles arguing with the man that maybe Lydia was right, and he needed to change his clothes.

“I’m not wearing that.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s blue and orange.”

“Who’s to say these aren’t your colours?”

“I will kill you and bury you in that shirt.”

“Okay, let’s try a different shirt. How about this one?”

“What’s on it?”

“Batman. Dude, how do you not know who Batman is?”

“I don’t like comics.”

“Get out of my house.”

“Just give me a damn shirt, Stiles.”

“How about I give you one of my dad’s?”

“I don’t care. Just give me a shirt.” And that’s how Derek ended up wearing his dads only black t-shirt and some BHPD sweatpants. Somehow, the man looks more uncomfortable.

            Awkward was the understatement of the year for their current situation. They’d been sat in his room for two hours, and it was the longest two hours of his life. Derek had quickly taken over his bed and hadn’t moved from his position. If Stiles weren't acutely aware of everything, the man did he would think he’d fallen asleep.

“Where am I supposed to sleep?”

“You have a floor.”

“This is my room.”

“And I’m here to protect you. I need a good night sleep if I’m going to keep you safe.”

“Actually, I’m the one protecting you. So, I need my sleep.”

“You don’t like me, do you?” Stiles couldn’t help but laugh because Derek couldn’t be more wrong. Earlier in the day, he couldn’t even imagine Derek being the man he remembered and then the asshole had to risk his life for them.

“No.” Stiles knew he was lying, which meant that Derek definitely knew he was lying. The man didn’t say anything about it. He didn’t even blink as he no doubt heard Stiles heartbeat jump. “You don’t seem to like us either.”

“I’m not here to like people.” Stiles was about to say something when he realised he didn’t actually know why Derek was here.

“Why are you here?”

“What?”

“Why did you come back?”

“We came back to see our uncle.”

“I thought he was in a coma?”

“He is. The hospital called us a few weeks ago to talk about his care. I wanted to deal with it in person.”

“Why?”

“I had to tell him I was sorry. Laura thought it would help my guilt. Now, I can just add more to it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We were only here to help me, and now Laura is dead.”

“That’s not your fault, Derek. You could never have known someone was going to try and kill her.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. I just need to find her killer and then I can leave forever.” It shouldn’t feel like a stab to his heart, this is what he wants, he needs Derek to leave and never look back. But, it hurts so much to think about never seeing him again, to think about living his life without him.

“Derek, I’m-”

“Stiles!” His eyes went wide as his dad's voice filled the home and he stared at Derek helplessly.

“Didn’t you hear him?” Stiles whispered furiously at Derek.

“No, I didn’t, I was too busy answering your stupid questions!”

“Just hide!” Derek gestured around the room, and Stiles pushed him behind the door as his dad started to open it. He threw himself against the edge of the door and tried to use his body to shield the rest of his room from his dad's view.

“Hey.”

“You okay?”

“Yep. What’s up?”

“I just talked to Mrs-” Oh, my god, she told his dad!

“Oh! That.”

“Wanna explain why she thinks your _boyfriend_ was climbing in the window?”

“That was Danny.”

“Danny? So, there is a boyfriend?”

“No! He’s my partner.”

“Your partner?”

“Not my _partner_! My science partner, we’re working together.”

“And where does the window come into this?”

“That was my fault. I was hanging out in my room, listening to music and so I never heard him knock, so he scaled the wall.”

“Right. Well, from now on can you please make sure he uses the door.”

“Definitely.”

“And you know if you want a-”

“Oh, dad, no! We really don’t need to talk about my interests.”

“Okay, great.” His dad nodded his head and turned to head back down the hallway. Stiles shut the door and let his body follow it till his forehead pressed against the door.

“It’s for his own good.”

“What is?”

“Lying to him. I can smell your guilt, and you’re doing it to protect him, Stiles.” He turns his body to look at Derek and rests his back against the door.

“I know you didn’t do it for me, but I’m still grateful that you told Lydia to leave him out of it.”

“I won’t let anyone else die because of me.”

“None of this is your fault, Derek.” It was his. Every single part of this was his fault. If he’d never-, he started all of this. The only reason Derek was alive in this time was that he had been so fucking selfish.

“Why do you- what do you feel so guilty about?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Push him away and keep him safe.

“Do you know something?”

“No.”

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” He can’t answer that, Derek will know he’s lying, and then he’ll push, and then he’ll find out the truth.

“What?”

“Is there something you’re not telling me!” Derek's hands curl around his arms, and he tries to push against the man as he stares at him.

“Get off me!”

“Then tell me the truth!”

“The truth is-” Lie. You have to. “you’re paranoid. Kate fucked you, killed your family, and now you think everyone is out to get you.” The hands drop from his arms, and he watches as Derek's backs away from him. The man doesn’t look at him, and he looks so hurt that Stiles wants to take it all back, wants to just reverse time and never put Derek through any of it.

“You’re lying. You’re avoiding something.” It’s so quiet, so broken and Stiles digs his nails into his palm as he lashes out again.

“You. I’m trying to avoid you. Everyone around you dies, and I don’t want to be added to that list. I don’t want Scott or Lydia or my dad to be added to that list.” It’s like confirming all of Derek's worst fears; he knows he’s telling the man everything he’s told himself since he was sixteen. I’m sorry was at the tip of the tongue, and he could feel tears brimming at the edges of his eyes.

“I’ll meet you all tomorrow after school.” Derek jumped out of the window, and Stiles stumbled forward to it. He caught himself on the edge of the window and stared out into the darkness.

“Derek-” The words caught in his throat, and he sat down with his back against the wall as he tried to remind himself that this was the right thing to do. Pushing Derek away was the right thing, it was the only way to make sure he survived.


	9. Chapter 9

The bite mark was red and angry on her arm as she twisted and turned it to see it in the mirror. It was still there, though, and that’s what was important. Scott had told her that his had disappeared after a day so everything was going to be fine. If it was still there, then she wasn’t going to become a werewolf. Everything was going to be completely fine. The bite would heal, and it would be like it never happened. Her phone rang out in her room, and she moved to her bed to answer it. She rolled her eyes as she realised it was Stiles calling her.

“Stiles, I'm not letting Derek stay at my house.”

“Lydia-” She was immediately on high alert as the man cut himself off. It was already clear to her that he was upset maybe even crying.

“Stiles, what happened?”

“Derek started asking questions, and I had to do something to make him stop. I hurt him so badly, Lydia.” She wasn't sure what she could say to that. She understood why Stiles treated Derek like he did, but that didn't mean she thought it was fair to Stiles or Derek.

“Do you know where he is now?”

“He left. You should have seen his face.”

“It’s going to be okay, Stiles. Did he tell you anything before he left?”

“That he’d meet us tomorrow.”

“Okay, then you can still fix it.”

“I can’t, Lydia, I can’t do this. It’s too hard to pretend I don’t want to touch him and be with him.”

“Stiles, it’s gonna be okay. I’ll do all the talking, and you don’t have to interact with him. We’ll finish this, and you won’t have to see him again.”

“Thank you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night, Lydia.” She ended the call and dropped the phone down onto her bed. A quick look at the chair in the corner of her room showed that Scott hadn’t woken at all during the call. She huffed a laugh and ran her fingers through her hair. The bite caught her eye, and she stared at it. It was still there, still intact, everything was fine.

            The wind whipped at her hair, pulling it around her throat. The sky darkened under her gaze, and the trees seemed to grow above her. She screamed into the forest. Her scream echoed through the trees and seemed to come back around to her. It pierced her ears, even as she clasped her hands over them. It was deafening. The forest became silent not even a rustling of leaves could be heard. Bright red eyes stared at her from the line of oaks, and she turned to run. They followed her, the trees trapped her. Twisting and turning until she had nowhere left to go. The eyes moved closer, spit dripped from its mouth, blood from its teeth. It snapped at her. A branch wrapped around her wrist pulling her arm out towards the wolf. Its gaze grew heavy, she fell to her knees and then its teeth pierced her skin. She screamed out into the forest, but it swallowed them. Blood dripped down her arm and onto the floor. The wolf, transformed beside her moving till it was pressed against her chest and its mouth to her ear. Warm moist breath fanned her cheek, and she tried to pull away from him. She could feel his lips against her ear.

“Wake up, Lydia.” His hands wrapped around her waist and then she was being pushed, falling further and further until she gasped as she woke. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the weight of a hand on her waist. Warm breath on her cheek and she tried to scream as a hand covered her mouth.

“Lydia! It’s me, Scott. Look at me!” Her eyes snapped to his, and she stared at the warm brown. It wasn’t the red in her dreams it was a comforting brown. A hand brushed back the hair on her forehead, and she curled her hand around Scott’s wrist. “You okay?” Blood trickled out of the bite mark, and she pushed Scott back to grab a tissue from the box beside the bed. The boy curled a hand around her wrist and pulled her arm towards him.

“Lydia, tell me this isn’t from the Alpha?”

“It’s still here. I’m not a werewolf.”

“We should tell Derek or Stiles.”

“No, please, Scott. It’s nothing. It’ll heal and if I were a werewolf it would have healed already, right?”

“I don’t know. I’m not an expert. Mine was gone by the next day, so if it’s not gone by tomorrow, then we tell them.”

“Okay.” She laid back against her cushion and Scott sat on the edge of her bed. “You can lay down, Scott.”

“I don’t want you to-”

“Scott, I know you’re not going to do anything, I would feel better if you’re close.”

“Alright.” Scott lay down beside her, and she almost wanted to laugh at how tense he was beside her.

“How much do you know about Stiles’s past?”

“Just what he’s told me and what I’ve read.”

“You’ve read up on him?”

“No, he’s written everything down in this notebook. He’s let me read it a few times.”

“I’m gonna need to see this.”

“I think I remember a few of the stories if you want me to tell you them?” She turns on her side to face him, and Scott stared at the ceiling as he thought of the first story to tell her.

“Erm, so I can’t remember the exact dates of everything. Stiles knows the dates of every meeting and every de- everything. He knows it all. There was this one in like the 1800s, or something and Derek worked on the railroads or built trains. I’m really bad at the details, I’m sorry.”

Lydia smiles at him and waves her hand at him. “It’s okay, keep going.” 

“So, er, they met when Stiles dad commissioned a track to be built through their town. His dad was the mayor or the something, and so he hired men from the surrounding towns to come work for him.  And Stiles was there to monitor the workers and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to. Stiles said that Derek wowed him with his body. Apparently, his dad had only wanted the strongest men.” Lydia laughs as Scott flexes his muscles for her. 

“Obviously you would have been one of them.”

“Yeah but Derek was like the best there. He had long brown hair and this thick beard.” His hands run through his hair and towards his shoulders as he tries to show Lydia how long Derek's hair was.

“I can’t imagine him with brown hair.”

“I can’t either.”

“So, what happened to them?”

“He and Derek started spending more time together, according to Stiles Derek made up some bullshit about design ideas or efficient workmen schedules. Then Derek was helping Stiles check all the materials for the next work day, and something happened that ended up with them on the floor. I think Derek tripped, and he pulled Stiles down with him, and Derek kissed him. They got their memories back, and they stayed up all night to talk about everything. Their past life and I think it was Stiles that died so Derek told him how long he was alone.” She was curious how long they got to be together. From everything Stiles had told her she'd tried working out a pattern but there didn't seem to be one. The amount of time they got to spend together always varied.

She flicked her eyes up to meet Scotts and she had to know. “How long did they get?”

“Two days.”

“What happened?”

“His dad shot them. He shot Stiles and then Derek straight after. Stiles told me that it was one of the few times they died together.” Her heart had broken for Stiles so many times in the past couple of weeks and with this information, it shattered. How could his own father shoot him? Someone that Stiles trusted to always protect him and he shot him.

“Has he ever told you how it started?” Scott rolls onto his side to face her, and he pushes one hand under his face as he draws shapes onto the bed with his other hand.

“He’s talked about it a little, but I’ve never got the full details.”

“Isn’t it in the book?” Lydia asked.

“It’s the one story that isn’t. I don’t know what happened, but I know that whatever it was, Stiles blames himself.” 

“Why is he the one that remembers? And why now?”

“Well, the curse has been going for four hundred years give or take, maybe this is the end of it.” They laid there in silence both wishing for Stiles sake that this was the end of it. She hadn't been his friend for long, but no one deserved to keep reliving this.

“Do you think Derek knows anything about curses?”

“I don’t know, and we can’t ask him without raising suspicion.”

“Do you agree with what he’s doing?”

“Stiles is my best friend and the entire time I’ve known him this was his plan. It’s never been anything different. It’s always been hard on him. I mean he’s in love with Derek…” Lydia raised an eyebrow as Scott trails off in thought and she nudges his shoulder to bring him back to the room.

“What is it?”

“His name.”

“What about it?”

“It’s just his name is Derek. In every life, their names always changed, but Stiles always calls him Derek because that was his name when they first met. And Stiles has always had a different name, in this life he has a different name, but he chose to be called Stiles. You’re right, why now? Why does he remember now?”

“So, they have the same names it’s not a lot to go on.”

“Guess you’re right, I just wish I could help him. He’s helped me through so much, and I just wish there was something I could do for him. The past couple weeks have been hard on him, and I can’t even begin to understand what this is like for him. To be cursed for loving someone and then you get to kiss them once before they die.”

“Have they ever kissed twice?”

“Once. It was their first life back, and they kissed the first time, and they were just so happy to see each other they kissed again, and Stiles just died. Derek told him he just died in his arms.” Her eyelids felt heavy and she realised that Scott wasn't saying anything else. They were both exhausted and she knew they had to be at school soon, but sleep sounded so good. She thought through her classes for the day, making sure she didn't miss any of her homework. English, Physics, I.T...

“Have you ever looked him up?”

“What?”

“Surely there has to be something about one of his lives. One of them had to have some mention in all of history.” Scott's eyebrows seemed to be pulled further down as he thought through Stiles lives. His head shot up and his eyes were wide as he remembered one of the lives.

“Henry Royal.”

“Who?”

“He was a detective. He was Stiles in the 30s and Derek was a serial killer, and Stiles was after him so Derek kidnapped him.”

“Can I guess how it ended?”

“Okay, go.”

“So, Derek kidnapped him and hid him in like some creepy warehouse, where Stiles- no, Henry realised that there was more to Derek than he thought. And Derek fell in love with him and wanted to let him go. But, Henry couldn’t leave him, and they kissed. Then maybe ran off a bridge together.”

“Close. Detective Henry Royal was tasked with finding him, and Derek kidnapped him to send a message. Drove him across the country, because someone hurt Derek and he wanted revenge. One night Derek just let him go, and Henry didn’t want to leave him. They kissed and got their memories back, then went on the run for three weeks before they got caught. Stiles died in the shoot-out, and Derek died a year later in prison.”

“There has to be something on them. I mean a disgraced cop and a serial killer.” Lydia rolled over and grabbed her laptop from the floor before pushing herself up to rest against the headboard. Scott followed her and leant his body into her shoulder to see the screen. They both watched as Google loaded up pages of results and Lydia clicked on the first few links, opening them in new tabs and looking through them.

“Wait, there!” They stared at the small picture on the screen, and Lydia read out the caption.

“Detective Steven Wright and Detective Henry Royal, 1930.”

“2 years before he met Derek. It’s like it’s him, but not him. His jaws sharper and he looks shorter. This is so weird, it never even occurred to me to ever look one of his pasts up.”

“There’s something on Derek, look, Detective Henry Royal was killed in 1932 after being kidnapped by serial killer James Thomas. James Thomas later died after being released into the care of Detective Steven Wright. Suspicious circumstances were surrounding his death after the coroner reported he had multiple broken bones.”

“Oh, my god, Derek lied to him. He said he died in prison, but he was murdered.”

“Yeah, by Stiles partner. There as bad as each other, god knows what else they’ve kept from each other.”

“I don’t know how they do it. I know Derek doesn’t remember right now, but I mean how much he has kept from Stiles to protect him. If he has ever remembered then how do we know he didn’t do the same thing Stiles is doing now?” Lydia put her laptop on the floor, and she felt Scott tip towards her with the movement. As she sat back against the headboard, part of her back pressed against Scott’s chest.

“Sorry, I can move.”

“No, it’s fine, besides we have to be up in...” She leant over to see the clock beside her bed and dropped back heavily against Scott. “20 minutes.”

“How’s the bite?”

“I’d totally forgotten about it.” They both stared down at her arm, and she took a deep breath as she turned her arm over to reveal the bite. It hadn’t healed, it was still there, and it was red and angry. “It’s still there.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s healed at all. That’s good.”

“Thanks for staying with me all night.”

“It’s what friends are for.”

“I guess we are friends, aren’t we?”

“Considering Stiles and I are trusting you with some pretty big secrets, I’d say so.” Scott smiled at her, and she smiled back before glancing at the clock over his shoulder.

“You should probably go. If you leave now, you can make it home, get changed and then get to school.”

“You gonna be okay?”

“Yes, Scott. I think I can manage the hour that I will be out of your supervision.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt because of me or Stiles.”

“Scott, I already got hurt, and it’s no one's fault but the Alphas. I’m choosing to be here and be a part of this.”

“Okay, okay!” The man holds his hands up in surrender and climbs off her bed. “I will  talk to you after school?”

“Yes. Derek is gonna meet us there, and I guess we’ll continue your training.” Scott made his way to the window and pushed it open. “What are you doing?”

“Climbing out the window.”

“You can go out the front door, Scott, my Mom, isn’t home.”

“Right, of course.” The man shuffles away from the window and waves to her as he walks out her bedroom door. It occurs to her that she’s never really had anyone that cared about her this much. In fact, she’s never actually had friends like Scott and Stiles, she supposes even Derek could be considered a friend since he did risk his life for her. Her alarm beeped at her, and she let it ring in her ear for a few minutes before she turned it off because she had to go to school. Otherwise, she was going to have Scott. Stiles and most likely Derek breaking her door down.

            Usually, Jackson would be waiting at the end of her driveway to pick her up, but for some reason, he didn’t turn up so she ended up calling Scott. Her first call had been to Stiles, but the man hadn’t picked up, so she’d been forced to call Scott and ask him to come back.

“I know I sent you away like an hour ago, but I need a ride to school.” There was some shuffling on the phone and then Scott’s voice echoed loudly through the phone.

“Oh, I’m actually on the way to you already. I didn’t know if your Mom usually dropped you off, so I thought I’d come get you.”

“Are you driving while on the phone?”

“You’re on speaker, don’t worry! I am coming up your street now.”

“Okay, I see you.” She hung up the phone as Scott pulled up in front of her and he waved her into the car.

“Thank you.”

“So, who usually picks you up?”

“Jackson.”

“Oh.”

“We don’t have to talk about him.”

“No, it’s fine. Why do you think he didn’t come get you?”

“I don’t know. Jackson’s never not picked me up before.” She fiddled with her phone and wondered if she should text Jackson to make sure he was okay. He could have been hurt. It wasn't like him to take days off right before a game.

“Maybe he’s taking a sick day.”

“Unlikely, the games on Friday and he would never miss training before a game. Hey, didn’t you try out for the team the other week?”

“Yeah. I made the team, well I made the bench.”

“Everyone starts somewhere, even Jackson started on the bench.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Of course, you don’t, Jacksons been playing lacrosse since 7th grade. His dad got him private lessons, and he pretty much played every day after school. Even with all that, he was on the bench in freshman year. The reason no one knows is that he used to sit in the stands with me.”

Scotts laugh was loud in the car and a small smile forced its way onto her face. “Are you serious?”

“Yep. We started creating our image a long time ago.”

“How long have you and Jackson been together?”

“Erm 3 years this year.”

“Do you love him?”

“Obviously.” Lydia snapped at him.

“I don’t mean anything by it, just my parents were together for years without love. I was just curious, Lydia.”

She knew Scott didn't mean anything by it. It was Scott after all, but it still hurt to be asked about it, but she and Sott were friends now. “I love Jackson, but I do sometimes wonder if he loves me.”

“Lydia, it’s no secret that Jackson hates Stiles and me. He pretty much hates everyone, but you. You’re the only person I’ve seen him be nice to and Danny, but no one hates Danny. What I’m trying to say that it’s pretty obvious he cares about you a lot.”

“He doesn’t hate _everyone_.”

“Okay, fine he doesn’t hate everyone, but he is mean to everyone.”

“I will accept that.”

“How does he feel about you being friends with us?” 

The silence that followed was stifling in the small car. It was only broken by Lydia's quiet admission, “He doesn’t know.”

“How can he not know? Doesn’t he wonder where you’ve been going after school?”

“I haven’t told him anything. I’m not seen with you or Stiles at school so he doesn’t know that I'm spending time with you.”

“But, won’t he be upset when he finds out?”

“He’s not going to find out.”

“Lydia.”

“I know Jackson, and if he thinks that there’s some way to make him better, he’ll do it. I’m not risking him throwing himself at the Alpha.”

“You don’t think he’d be stupid enough to do that.”

“No, it wouldn’t be from stupidity, it’d be out of pride more than anything.” Scott parked the car in one of the front bays and turned to look at her.

“If he finds out and it causes problems for you, Stiles and I would understand you stepping back. We wouldn’t mind you taking yourself out of this.”

“Scott-”

“I’m serious, Lydia. You’ve already gotten hurt because of us, and I don’t want you to put us ahead of your relationship.” Lydia released her seatbelt and leant across the car to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Just accept it.” His arms came up around her back, and he spoke into her neck.

“You’re welcome.”

            The bite kept rubbing against her jumper. The material was catching on the skin, and she kept having to pull it away from her arm and hold it. There were small drops of blood gathering on her sleeve, and she excused herself from class to go to the bathroom. She pushed the sleeve up to see the bite and used a paper towel to wipe away the dried and new blood. The good news was it was still there, but the bad news is it was still bleeding.

“That looks bad.” She jumped as someone spoke to her and she looked in the mirror to see behind her. There was a man about her age leaning against the wall, and she stared at him.

“This is the girl's room.”

“I know, but I saw you bleeding so I followed you in.”

“A little creepy, don’t you think?” She moved her attention back to the bite and continued to clean it.

“I prefer concerned.” A warm body pressed against her back and she tensed as arms came around her to take over cleaning the bite.

“I don’t know you.”

“I’m Peter. Now, you know me.”

“I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’ve just started here. That’s quite the mark, how’d you get it?”

“A mountain lion.”

“I didn’t realise you had them around here. Let alone ones that approached humans.”

“Well, I didn’t realise you were such an expert on mountain lions.” Lips grazed the edge of her ear, and she forced herself not to shiver in his arms.

“It’s only because I know it’s not from a mountain lion, Lydia.” The arms tightened around her, and she met his eyes in the mirror.

“I didn’t tell you my name.”

“You didn’t have to, everyone in the school knows you.” His smile was broad, and she winced as he pushed his thumb down on the bite mark.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who wants you to scream.” His eyes turned red in the mirror, and he pulled his head back as his teeth elongated. The scream ripped out of her throat as his teeth pierced her shoulder and the blood soaked through her jumper. “I’ll find you soon, Lydia.”

A hand on her shoulder dragged her back to the classroom, and she stared at her teacher. Everyone in the room was staring at her, and she pushed her hand to her shoulder.

“Miss Martin, are you okay?”

“Yes.” The teacher looked like she was going to drop it when her eyes caught on the blood seeping through the arm of her jumper.

“Miss Martin, you’re bleeding!”

“I’m fine. I was bitten by something yesterday.”

“Do you want to go to the bathroom?”

“No!” The teacher looked shocked at her outburst, and she rushed to placate her. “I’m sorry, no, I’ll be fine.” She covered the bloody area with her hand, and the teacher nodded her head before turning back to the class and drawing everyone's attention away from her.

            The class came to an end slowly, and Lydia waited till everyone was out of the room before she rolled up her sleeve and checked the bite. The blood stuck to her jumper, and she hissed in pain as she pulled her sleeve away from the bite. The door to the classroom banged open, and she shoved her sleeve down as Jackson walked further in the room.

“Hey, where were you this morning?”

“Why did Danny see Scott McCall go into your house last night?”

“What?”

“Answer the question, Lydia.”

“He- I- I’m tutoring him in math.”

“So, why didn’t he leave till this morning?”

“He fell asleep on the couch.”

“And then drove you to school.” Jackson accused.

“Is that why you didn’t pick me up? You wanted to see if he’d drive me here.” Her arms were pulled tight over her chest as Jackson towered over her. She did her best to look like she wasn't nervous or worried.

“You’ve been weird the last two weeks, Lydia. You’re not around after school, and you disappear on weekends, you’ve barely answered my texts, so what the hell is going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Is it McCall? Are you sleeping with him?” Every time she moved Jackson would either step back or sway part of his upper body just out of reach of her. She couldn't believe that he would actually believe this to the point that he didn't even want to touch her. 

“No! I can’t believe you’d even ask me that.”

“What am I supposed to think, Lydia? You haven’t been with me in weeks, how do I know you’re not getting it from somewhere else?”

“Because I think of things other than sex you ass!”

“Then tell me what else I’m supposed to think!”

“You’re meant to think I trust my girlfriend!” 

His face was growing redder with everything she said and she could almost see the moment he snapped. “I would if I knew what the fuck you’re doing.” Jackson was in her space now, his face so close to hers she could feel his breath on her cheeks, and she leant back.

“I’m tutoring Scott in math. That is all I’m doing.” The desk behind her dug into the back of her thighs, and she tried to slip sideways when his hands came up to box her in.

“You’re lying to me, we’ve been together for a long time, Lydia I know when you’re lying!”

“Jackson, you’re scaring me.”

“Then just tell me the truth.” She tried to shove him back, but he grabbed her arm, and she hissed in pain when his fingers caught the edge of the bite and dug in painfully.

“Jacks-” The door banged open, and Lydia tried not to look too relieved when she recognised Stiles.

“Oh, shit, sorry. Didn’t realise anyone was- oh, Douchemore, it’s just you. Then I don’t care that I walked in.”

“Get out, Stilinski.” Jackson's hand loosened on her arm, and she pulled her arm free as Jackson started to argue with Stiles.

“Dude, I booked this room with Lydia to do chem work, you get out.” It looked like Jackson wanted to punch something, so Lydia grabbed his shirt and pulled his attention back to her.

“We’ll talk later.”

“Don’t bother. Whatever you have to say, I don’t care.”

“Jackson, please.”

“You had your chance, Lydia.” He shrugs off her hands and is out of the door before she can say anything else to him. Stiles stands just inside the room and closes the door as Jackson leaves.

“Are you alright?”

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Scott. He overheard someone talking about you, and he was worried. When he heard Jackson ask about him, he thought I should come instead.”

“That was a good idea.”

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, Stiles. I think Jackson just broke up with me and this morning I realised that I might have real friends and people who would risk their life for me. And I’m kind of freaking out because my new friends are werewolves and a guy who is like 400 years old!”

“I’m only 17, don’t make me sound super old!”

“Oh god, Stiles, don’t make me laugh right now.”

“Lydia, it’s going to be okay. You can walk away right now. We won’t stop you.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“I can’t decide for you.”

“You know Scott, and I were talking about you last night. He was telling me all about your lives and some of the things you’ve done with Derek.” She kept her left side facing away from Stiles so he wouldn’t see the blood and paced around the room, her hands gesturing wildly. “How do you keep doing it, Stiles? How do you keep coming back and finding each other and dying and just doing it over and over again? How do you not just-” She cut herself off and stared at Stiles as he sat down on the teacher's desk.

“kill myself?”

“No. That’s not what I was…”

“It was, and it’s okay. We did once.”

“What?”

“In 1693, we’d come back a few times already, and we met in a market. We met when I was 19. His parents owned a farm outside of the main town and once a month he would carry in whatever they had. For fifteen minutes he would talk to me, he’d just drop off the produce with my mother and then he’d talk to me. Sometimes, he’d bring me flowers because he thought the booth needed brightening up, or he’d bring me a book, and I didn’t even know how to read, Lydia. But, I’d take it because the next time he would come he’d talk about it so much and he was so beautiful when he was excited.” Tears slipped down Stiles' cheeks, and he brushed them away with the back of his hand before continuing. “Those fifteen minutes a month were the best thing in my life. And then on my 24th birthday, he kissed me and it was the worst thing. Everything came flooding back, and we couldn’t do it anymore, Lydia, we just couldn’t keep losing each other. So, we decided to kill ourselves, and we’d never died together, and it was something we’d never tried before. We weighed ourselves down and together we drowned.”

“What happened?”

“In our next life, we got to remember everything. We knew exactly who each other were, but we couldn’t find each other. Because we’d tried to go against the curse, the curse twisted on us. I searched for years and nothing. I would have given anything to have those fifteen minutes again.”

“How did you…”

“We died as we always did. In the life after that everything went back to normal, but in all my lives Lydia, including this one, that was the worst. Knowing that he was out there, but not knowing what was happening to him. I didn’t even know if he was alive, we had no way of knowing if the other was just waiting for us to die so we could restart. That was the worst part of it, just not knowing. We never tried to get around the curse again.”

“What happened in your last life, Stiles? Did you kill yourself? Just you?”

“No, I died like usual. Derek died in 1981, I lived on without him, and I died in 1993 and was born in 94. There was nothing special about our last life.”

“There has to be something we’re missing.”

“Lydia, there is a lot we’re missing. We don't know anything about curses, we still don’t really know anything about werewolves and we have no idea why I remember and Derek doesn’t. We just have to use what we do know.”

“Stiles, there’s something I need to tell you.” She wrapped her hand around her bite and let out a shakey breath.

“Go ahead.”

“Yesterday, when the Alpha attacked I was-” The door slammed open again as Scott barrelled through the door and they both turned to look at the boy.

“You need to come with me, now.” Scott ran back out into the hall, and Lydia grabbed her things before running after him and Stiles. She weaved her way through the people in the hall and watched Stiles run out the entrance and into the car park. She followed through the doors moments later, and she can see Stiles pushing someone into the jeep.

“What the hell happened?”

“Derek got shot with something,” Stiles answers for her as he comes back to the front of the car. “We can’t take him to the hospital. There’s all this shit coming from the wound.”

“We can take him to Deaton's!”

“Scott, I know he’s a werewolf, but I don’t think it’ll be the same as working on a dog!”

“I know that, but he has medical instruments, I might be able to get the bullet out.”

“Are you sure? Scott, what if you-”

“I won’t. I’ve been working with him for a year, and he’s taught me a lot. I can do this.”

“Okay. I trust you.”

“I’ll meet you at the practice. Lydia, do you wanna go with Stiles or me?”

“I’ll go with you that way if Stiles calls I can answer.”

“Good thinking. Wait, what do we about school?”

“Really, Scott?”

“Dude, if we miss class they’ll call our parents.”

“I can’t let him die, Scott. If they call my dad, then I’ll just tell him I skipped out.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” Stiles left them to jump in his jeep, and they moved out of the way as he drove past them. They raced to Scott's car, and Lydia tried not to panic at the situation.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Scott said.

“Are you telling yourself or me?”

Scott didn’t answer her.


End file.
